Different Than You Dream
by brown phantom
Summary: Akane apparently dreamed the entire series. Now she wants to start over and make things work for her and Ranma. Unfortunately, what follows isn't exactly what she predicted in her dreams. Rating may someday change.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"What a strange dream." Akane said as she woke up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "But... it felt so real. It still does. Even now I can picture his face and voice like he really does live here."

Suddenly needing some reassurance of what was real, Akane quietly walked to the guest room and slowly opened the door. It was empty, unused for quite some time, yet dustfree and organized thanks to Kasumi's vigilance.

For some reason, she was quite disappointed. 'Calm down, it was just a dream. There is no Ranma, there is no agreement Dad made with anyone, I... I have no fiancee.' She then shed a tear at that.

Not wanting to linger on such thoughts, Akane headed to the furo for a relaxing soak, forsaking her jogging for the morning. In the room she was reminded that her hair was long, uncut by Ryoga's bandanna. 'Ranma said I looked cute with it short. Maybe I... wait, Ranma was just a dream. By the end of today I won't even remember his name.'

But by the time she was washed and in the hot water, nothing from her dream had faded. It all was as vivid as a genuine memory. She could still see Ranma arriving in female form then later male and nude in this very spot, she could hear him calling her uncute and sexless yet proudly call her his fiancee when another boy tried to force them apart, she could even still hear him say he loved her when she almost died at Jusendo. It all felt so real to her that the idea it all had been just a highly detailed dream was breaking her heart.

Not only that, but her behavior in the dream was breaking her heart too. The Akane in the dream only saw so much, but she, the one who dreamed it all, saw everything from a third person perspective, like a person watching a show or reading a book. She saw Ryoga as P-chan and how he got the curse and why Ranma said nothing on it. She saw all the times Ranma really was innocent from being perverted, like when he tried to keep real perverts from her. She saw all the fights he did with others, often to defend her or free himself from yet another problem dumped on his shoulders. There were even times she could actually feel what he felt too in certain situations, like when he had to hide from his mother or when he wanted to make Akane happy. But the best part, hands down, was when she felt his feelings right after the Saffron battle.

'Ranma... he loved me. He did, he really did, but when I asked he was just confused, not in denial.' Akane thought sadly, letting herself cry a bit, remembering that the dream ended before she could say she loved him. 'But instead of getting to be with him, I'm back to beating off the hentai horde and Kuno on a regular basis. I'm back to... normality.' Oh how hollow that felt to her. Normality had sounded like a paradise compared to the chaos Nerima had become in her dream, but to lose Ranma to get it... was that a sacrifice that was worth it?

'How can I sacrifice someone who doesn't really exist?' Akane asked herself, getting out of the furo. 'And how can I miss someone who's only a figment of my imagination?'

* * *

With today not being a school day, Akane had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Rather than go out and find something, she ended up spending most of her time staring off into space. Her earlier beliefs that she would have gotten the dream by now had proven wrong. She still vividly remembered Ranma's face, voice, the way it felt when he held her, everything that made her glad he was engaged to her.

After a while, around noon to be more specific, Kasumi knew something was not right. Akane was a high-spirited girl and here she looked like she has lost something irreplaceable. She came up to her sister who was sitting on the Tendo porch staring forlornly at the koi pond. "Are you hurt Akane?" She asked, not sure how exactly to address the problem.

Akane looked away, not wanting to make eye contact. "I'm fine Kasumi."

'That's a lie if ever I heard one.' Kasumi told herself. "Who are you trying to convince Akane, me or you?"

'I have no idea.' The youngest Tendo told herself. "Kasumi, I don't know how to explain it, but... there's someone I miss deeply. I wish I could see him just once, but I know I never will."

"Who?" Kasumi asked.

"A... a boy I knew."

"A boy?" Kasumi repeated, surprised that there was a boy Akane actually liked.

"Yeah, a decent boy, though I didn't realize that until... he left." Akane answered, not wanting to admit she was talking about a dream instead of a real person.

Kasumi nodded sagely. "Sometimes you don't know what you have until you lose it."

'Maybe that was my problem in the dream.' Akane told herself. 'When Ranma was around, I never appreciated him. I always assumed I could do whatever I wanted and he would stick around until I was finally ready for marriage. Kami-sama, just remembering it makes me sick. I can't believe I would really do that to the boy I wanted to marry. Why is it only now that I realize I could have avoided so much trouble by just putting down that mallet once in a while?'

"Something wrong sis?" Kasumi asked, noticing Akane was crying a bit harder now.

"Just realizing hindsight really is 20/20 after all." The young Tendo said.

The older sister patted the younger one's back. "I'm sure you'll be fine Akane. Maybe someday you will see him again. If not, then maybe it just wasn't meant to be. But if you do, at least now you know what not to do."

"I'd give anything, short of my soul, to have that chance." Akane wished.

* * *

Akane went out for a jog just to get some air and returned to the dojo. Normally she'd break a few breaks to finish her workout, but right now she just had no anger in her for once. So instead she just walked to the backyard.

"Hey Akane, still got a dark cloud over your head?" Nabiki asked as she passed by.

"You could say that."

"Well, if you can pull yourself together long enough, Daddy's got something he wants to tell us all." The mercenary said as she turned and left.

With nothing better to do, Akane followed. Kasumi sat at a low table on the right side in her normal wear and Nabiki sat down next to her in a light blue kimono. Akane thus sat down at Nabiki's left, and Soun sat across from them all.

"Girls, I've got important news for you all. One of you is about to get a fiancee." Soun stated.

"Fiancee?" Akane asked, not expecting this."

Soun nodded. "Yes, he's the son of a very good friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome."

Akane's eyes immediately came close to popping out of her head. 'What the hell! This... is this really just a coincidence?'

"Many years ago, before any of you were ever born, the two of us made a promise to each other." Soun continued, making Akane even more... uncertain would be the best way to describe it.

'This is too unusual. There's no possible way I dreamed the future.' She told herself. 'Right?'

"We agreed that when our children came of age we would introduce them together. If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on this dojo, then our family legacy and future would be secure." Soun finished.

Akane was getting close to hyperventilating. 'Could... could it be? Ranma's real? I'll get to see him? I can make things work for us this time?'

"So is this Ranma and his father coming over?" Nabiki asked, seeing no other reason her father would bring this up to them.

"Yes. I got a postcard from my friend earlier today. He and Ranma have been traveling for years training in all places, and just got back to Japan from China." Soun answered after he stood up and looked outside, as if to make his words have a greater impact.

Akane had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming right now.

"Wow, China." Nabiki said, impressed.

"Father, how old is this Ranma?" Kasumi asked.

"Is Ranma cute?" Nabiki asked.

Akane lightly frowned hearing that. 'Don't even think about it Nabiki. He is MINE! Kasumi I'm not worried about. Maybe I can help her and Tofu get together too.'

"I hope he isn't younger than me." Kasumi added.

"Well, what kind of guy is he?" Nabiki added.

Soun lightly laughed, then paused and turned around. "I don't know."

Nabiki frowned. "You don't know?"

"I mean, I've never met him." The Tendo patriarch admitted, turning back from his daughters.

Kasumi and Nabiki were silently going over this, asking themselves if they were willing to be a part of this. Kasumi looked astounded at her father's answer while Nabiki looked mostly irritated. Akane however kept her eyes peeled for the door, waiting to hear a panda and angry girl show up. 'This time I'll do things right. Although... maybe I can actually enjoy this time at the furo. Or should I skip it completely? I don't want to make Ranma feel uncomfortable. So I probably shouldn't tell him about my dream. Not right away at least.'

"When will Ranma get here?" Akane asked, speaking for the first time here.

"Sometime today, I'm assuming not too long from now." Her father.

'If my dream really was a sign, then they should be coming...' She then heard a knock. 'Bingo!'

In her dream Nabiki had been the first to get up and go with her father to answer the door, with Kasumi and Akane behind them. This time, Akane got up first and went with Soun to see their visitors. 'Ranma, I can't wait to see you and start over on the right foot this time.'

Little did Akane know this was not going to be quite what she predicted.


	2. Chapter 1

_This story is a collaboration between myself and Greenicedragon1789, written as part of his Ranma challenge. Though this story will be somewhat different than his guidelines._

_Summary: The events of the manga turn out to be nothing more than a dream Akane had, until Ranma shows up for real. Knowing what might happen, Akane strives to do things better this time. However, things won't go exactly as planned, because the events of this story will not follow the manga. They will be closer to the anime, but still will have several notable differences. For example, the curses will all be different than canon, and character backgrounds will be altered a bit too. Some OOCness is to be expected here._

_Also, this story will be a rarity here, a Ranma harem. Akane will be the main girl here, but here Shampoo and Ukyo will get him too. Not right away, but it will happen and it will be handled as I see most appropriately. No other girls will be added._

_All I ask is you at least give it a chance._

Chapter One

Before they could reach the front door, it opened and in strolled a panda, walking on hind legs and carried a small red-haired teenage girl struggling against the ursine animal to no effect.

At least, that's what Akane was prepared for.

The front door opened, and indeed there was a red-haired girl being held by an animal. But this animal wasn't a panda. It was a mule.

'A mule? This wasn't part of the dream. Mr. Saotome was a panda, not this horse-donkey hybrid.'

"What the-?" Soun asked as the unusual sight.

The redhead was squirming, trying to escape being pinned under the mule's hooves. "Let me go already."

Reacting as best she could, Akane moved the mule's legs off the girl's back and helped her up. "Excuse me, are you Ranma Saotome?" 'I already know, but I can't just say that now can I?'

The redhead adverted her eyes and looked quite uncomfortable. "Yeah, I'm Ranma."

Soun was glad to hear this and engulfed his visitor in a hug. "I'm so glad you came."

'Three... two... one...' Akane counted off until...

Soun's eye's widened and he took notice that his guest apparently had something he hadn't seen before. He took a step back to look at the redhead, somewhat in denial. Akane was tempted to reenact what Nabiki had done at this point but chose to keep her hands to herself.

"Looks like Ranma's a girl Dad."

"A... girl?" Soun flustered, then fainted. Akane struggled not to laugh at this, and to avoid doing so got her sisters to help drag him back inside the house. Not knowing what else to do, Ranma and her mule followed them inside.

Soun wasn't out long. When he came to he was laying on a futon in a sitting room surrounded by his daughters and Ranma.

"Poor Father, he must be so disappointed." Kasumi said.

"_He's_ disappointed? He's not the only one." Nabiki commented before giving the redhead a flat look. "Some fiancee."

Seeing Ranma's discomfort, Akane came to her defense. "Knock it off Nabiki. It's not Ranma's fault she's a girl." 'It's true, it's his stupid father's fault he got this curse.'

Nabiki ignored this and looked at Soun as Kasumi told everyone he was waking up. "This is all your fault Dad. Couldn't you have checked if Ranma was a boy or a girl?"

"I assumed my friend's _son_ was a boy." The Tendo patriarch answered.

Nabiki grabbed Ranma's breast. "Does this look like a boy to you?"

"Would you stop that?" Ranma asked.

"Nabiki, stop that." Akane said, batting away her sisters hand before turning to Ranma. "I'm sorry about that. My name's Akane by the way. You want to be friends?" Ranma quickly relaxed and gave a small nod. Akane's heart felt warm. "You practice martial arts right? Want to have a quick spar in the dojo?"

In no time the two were in the dojo facing each other. Ranma looked as if she was waiting for something while Akane, dressed in her yellow gi with a red obi, was just happy to see her fiancee again. "Ready?" She asked, and Ranma nodded.

Well aware of what would happen, Akane did not get irritated at Ranma for dodging all her punches or not punching back. "You know, this might be more fun if you tried fighting back." She told the redhead who kept reading her moves and dodging accordingly.

Ranma then jumped and flipped over the youngest Tendo to tage her from behind, but Akane was already prepared for this and managed to tag Ranma at the same time. Thus both girls had the others finger poking them on the forehead. Ranma was surprised Akane reacted this way, but relaxed when Akane started laughing, breaking the brief tension.

"You're pretty good." Akane said wiping a small amount of sweat off her forehead. 'Of course I already knew that.' "At least you're a girl. I can't imagine what everyone at school would say if I lost to a boy."

"Huh?" Ranma asked, not getting the reference.

"Oh, just some idiot making trouble for me. Let's just say if you were a boy he'd probably be trying to kill you. But since you're a girl, he may try to date you instead." She tried not to laugh at Ranma's horrified look. "Don't worry, I'll defend you if he tries anything." She then left the dojo, allowing Ranma to relax and let this sink in.

As she walked down the hall, she managed to see the mule open the door to the furo room and close it behind it. 'So that is Genma. Why on earth is his curse different but Ranma's isn't? Is it possible my dream predicted a few things wrong? Oh well, I can accept that as long as I marry Ranma for real.'

* * *

Later that hour Nabiki passed by the main room where her father was sitting opposite a man she had never seen before. What caught her attention the most was both were silently crying over something.

At the same time, Kasumi was showing Ranma, who was hefting a travel pack on her back, to the guestroom. It was a simple room but it would do for their guest. "Ranma, please use this room." The redhead nodded and she deposited the back on the floor. "Why don't you go and take a bath now?" Kasumi offered while holding out a folded towel.

"Uh... no thanks." Ranma denied, holding up her hand for emphasis.

"You must." Kasumi insisted, placing the towel in the redhead's hands. "You must be sweaty after all that exercise, right?"

"Y-yes." Ranma admitted, hoping to avoid any trouble.

"Good. I'll show you where it is." Kasumi said. She lead Ranma to the furo room back on the ground floor then went into the kitchen to start on dinner.

"Hey sis, who's that strange man in our living room?" Nabiki asked, now dressed again in normal clothes.

Kasumi waited until she closed the refrigerator door to answer. "I don't know. Oh Nabiki, would you tell Akane to take her bath while there's still time?"

Nabiki agreed and went to find her sister.

Akane once informed, wasn't sure just what to do about it. But a part of her strangely wanted to see Ranma naked. 'I know it's perverted of me, but... maybe there are times being perverted is okay. Besides, Ranma will be mine anyway and he won't do anything inappropriate to me. Weird, I feel like that dream helped me mature quite a bit in one night.'

While she wasn't exactly a nympho now or even in a hurry to sleep with Ranma, Akane found she no longer felt like every boy was just a rapist waiting to strike. Ranma certainly wasn't. If he wanted to rape her or Shampoo or Ukyo or even someone else, it wasn't like he didn't have the strength or speed to do it. In fact, now Akane suspected Ranma in her dream could have easily avoided her hits at least most of the time, and only let her hit him to get some of her anger out of her system before she did worse.

'I don't want to hit him anymore. I want to hold him, be held by him, kiss him, and earn his love. I swear, on my mother's grave, that I will not be a hit-first-ask-questions-later kind of girl like in my dream. Fate must have given me that dream for a reason. I have a chance to avoid all my own mistakes and help Ranma with the other problems. I will not throw that away.'

Knowing she couldn't get out of her bath without an answer for her sister, Akane went into the furo room, a sliding door separating her from the tub itself. 'Ranma's right on the other side, either male now or about to become one. What should I do?' She asked herself, eyeing his clothes in the hamper. 'Ooh, I know.' She thought with a grin as she got an idea.

First she untied the ribbon in her hair, then slipped the top of her gi off, blushing in anticipation. Then her bottom half came off and her underwear followed. Grabbing a pink towel and throwing it over her shoulders, she looked at herself in the mirror. 'If he's going to give me a show, I'll give him one too. Let's see how little sex appeal I have after _this_.' She then slid open the door.

Apparently Akane did this a bit sooner than in her dream, for Ranma at that moment was still female and starting to enter the furo. The redhead saw this and tried to avoid the change, but one foot was already in the hot water and the change started. Akane's eyes widened as she saw for the first true time the transformation of her love interest. And unlike her dream, this time he was dry and his extra appendage was much more clear to her eyes.

Both froze for a bit, but only Ranma was frozen out of shock. Akane just hid her smile and blush by whistling impressed then faking passing out on the tiled floor.

"Akane? Akane?" Ranma shouted, thinking she was really passed out.

Unable to keep herself from smiling, Akane groaned to avoid actually doing it and faking recovering from a headache. "Whoa, I just had the craziest dream." Technically it wasn't a lie. She then opened her eyes. "Wait, you... Ranma?"

He stepped back. "Uh... yeah. Sorry about this."

"Sorry about what?" She asked, leaning up and letting her bare body still be seen. She was a bit embarrassed, but she was also feeling much bolder than usual.

"I... uh... I can explain everything."

"I'm listening." She told him.

He suddenly felt body-conscious. "Could you stop staring at me like that?" He covered his manhood, which Akane could have sworn was bigger than her dream led her to believe.

Acting accordingly, Akane now avoided staring at him and handed him a towel before covering himself up. "I'm sorry I just walked in unannounced like that, but in my defense I did think you were a girl. How did you change like that?" She already knew, but couldn't tell him that.

"It's a long story."

"Why don't we get my family so you won't have to tell it more than once?" She offered. He nodded. "You go ahead and finish your bath. I'll wait and then we can get dressed and you can tell us everything."

"I'm not a freak." He quietly said, as if afraid she was going to say otherwise any second.

She surprised him by taking his hand in her own. "Did I say you were Ranma? I admit this is weird, but I'm certain there's an explanation for it."

He looked surprised by her acceptance, but nodded. "Thank you."

She smiled. 'Oh yeah, things will go much nicer this time around.'

* * *

In time, after sunset but before dinner, the Tendo's were gathered in the living room again, but this time Ranma and Genma were there too in their natural forms. Kasumi and Nabiki were quite surprised to see them and both girls noticed the obvious similarities between girl-Ranma and boy-Ranma.

"Girls, this is my dear friend." Soun said from close by Genma.

"I'm Genma Saotome, and this is my son."

"Ranma." The pigtailed young man stated, worried about their reactions. He kept his focus mostly on Akane, since she gave him a subtle reassuring look.

"So what is this then?" Nabiki asked.

"Are you really her? The same girl from before?" Kasumi added.

Ranma was hesitant to answer, and Genma personally wanted to get this over with. "I'm not sure how best to explain this, so..." He then stood up. "How about this for starters?" He then lifted his son by the collar and threw him in the koi pond before Ranma could react or escape.

Two second later a female Ranma surfaced, shook water off her, and yelled. "What did ya do that for?"

"Oh my." Kasumi said. "Now he's a girl."

Genma walked up to the pond side. "The shame. To see my son like this."

Angered by this, Ranma got out while Genma was busy pitying himself and kicked his father into the pond. When he got out, much to the Tendo girl's surprise, he was a mule. "Who are you to talk? You're literally a horse's ass."

Akane smirked. 'Good one, I've got to remember that.'

"Father, you certainly have some unusual friends." Kasumi told Soun as the odd father and son started trying to hit each other.

"They weren't always like this." He told his children. "It must have something to do with their trip to China. But before we pressure them to explain, let's give them a moment to work out their frustration and get back to normal."

Within ten minutes, that happened and Ranma and Genma, in normal forms, were seated again in the living room trying to explain their situation.

"It started one month ago." Genma started. "In order to continue our warrior's conditioning, my son and I crossed into China to find a new place to train. It was in China's Quanjing region in the Bayankala Range, Qinghai Province, that we finally came to the legendary training grounds of Jusenkyo. The guide there tried telling us about the history of the training grounds and the legend attached to it, but..." He trailed off.

"Let me guess, you didn't listen." Akane finished for him.

He nodded. "Jusenkyo looks like a place with a hundred cold water springs clustered close together, with numerous bamboo poles sticking out. It looked like training we had already accomplished, but since the place was renown and we had already arrived we decided to give it a try anyway. Only then did we discover exactly _why_ it was called accursed. Apparently long ago, something drowned in each one of Jusenkyo's cursed springs, and from then on anyone who falls in or gets splashed with water from those springs becomes cursed to transform into whatever drowned there."

Ranma looked angry at the memory, and Akane couldn't blame him. The rest of the Tendo's let this sink in.

Soun spoke first. "Jusenkyo, I've heard of this dreaded place before, but I never suspected the legend of it had any value. Until now that is."

Ranma turned to his father. "You just had to take us there, didn't you Pop?"

Genma stood up. "Ranma, you sound just like a girl!" He then grabbed his son, but before he could throw Ranma Akane got up and grabbed his arm.

"Enough! Mr. Saotome, Ranma has very right to be mad at you. I would be too if I were him!"

"Even so, he should have been willing to lay down his life for the art." Genma countered.

"My life, yes. My _manhood_ is another story!" Ranma told him before throwing him into the koi pond. Akane stepped back and let him do this.

Unseen by the others, Nabiki and Kasumi leaned close together. "Is Akane acting weird here or is it just me?" Nabiki whispered. Kasumi just nodded.

"This is certainly tragic." Soun commented as Genma the mule tried to kick Ranma into the water too, but Ranma dodged too well. "However..." He produced a kettle of hot water and poured it over Genma, who brayed and bucked in pain. "When doused with hot water, you return to normal."

Genma as a human panted. "It needn't be quite _that_ hot."

Soun ignored this and turned to the still male Ranma. "And in your case, cold water turns you into a girl, but hot water turns you back into a boy again. Right?"

"Umm... sorta." Ranma replied.

"Sorta?" Akane repeated, confused.

He looked away, unable to make eye contact with anyone. "My curse is a bit more complicated than that."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked. 'His curse at least looks the same as it did in my dream. Is there more to it than that though?'

Ranma nodded but still avoided eye contact. "After I got my curse, I panicked and tried to get rid of it right away. I figured if I jumped in the drowned man spring I would be cured. Unfortunately I jumped into the wrong one, and got a second curse."

"Then the guide told us you can't cure the curse that way." Genma added.

"What's your second curse?" Soun asked.

Ranma sighed. "Here, let me show ya." He then somehow became a girl, WITHOUT GETTING WET, but after a brief moment the girl body changed. The lower part got larger and the pants seemed to just melt away. As soon as the transformation normally was, Ranma had gone from all girl to part girl part horse.

"Whoa, a centaur?" Nabiki asked in disbelief.

Ranma nodded. "I jumped into the drowned horse spring and got a second curse. Since girl is my main curse, that's what I turn into first, but I can become part horse too. Just not all horse. At least it only happens when I want it to."

"Wait, how did you change without water?" Akane asked. That caught her attention more than the centaur part.

"It's hard to explain, but for me I can change whenever I want to without water." Ranma answered, returning to male form.

"Then why were you a girl when you showed up?" Nabiki asked.

"It had been raining and I was still wet. Water still changes me even though I can change without it." He told her. "After that, what was I supposed to do? Change right in front of you all?"

No one argued that point.

Akane thought this all over. 'So Ranma's curse is different too. I suppose I can get used to this. I just hope he's still the same Ranma I fell for.'

Soun thought it over too and chuckled a bit. Ranma was confused, but the Tendo patriarch just put his hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Well now, your problem isn't so terrible after all. Now, my eldest daughter Kasumi, she's nineteen. My middle daughter Nabiki, age seventeen. And my youngest daughter Akane, age sixteen. Pick whichever you want, and she'll be your fiancee."

Already knowing what would come, and fearing any possible change to that, Akane spoke first. "If Ranma doesn't mind, I'll fill that role."

Ranma was surprised, but not as surprised as Kasumi and Nabiki were. "What? You're volunteering?"

She nodded. "Yes. I feel like I can trust Ranma to not be like the boys at school. Besides, were either of you going to volunteer?"

Neither one of them wanted to, and had already prepared to sidestep the responsibility onto her, but they never expected Akane to actually beat them to it. "You sure about this?" Kasumi asked.

Akane turned to Ranma. "Ranma, you won't mistreat me or do anything to me I wouldn't want done right?"

Ranma shook his head. "No way. That's just wrong."

Akane smiled. 'Why didn't I have faith in him before?' "In that case, I'll keep being your friend and try to be a good fiancee to you, as long as you try to be the same to me."

Ranma did not know what to say. On his way here he was so certain that the girl he was about to meet wouldn't want to be engaged anymore than he did. "I'm not ready to be married yet."

"I didn't say we'd get married tomorrow Ranma. But I'm sure our fathers will give us the chance to get to know each other and develop something on our own." 'Maybe if we actually want to be a couple they'll ease up on the schemes to push us together.'

"I'm... afraid it's a bit more complicated then that." He told her.

"Why?" Akane asked.

As if on cue, two people appeared in the backyard. "Ah, finally found you. Thought you could get away from us did you Genma?"

Akane could not have been more surprised to see them. 'No, it can't be.'


	3. Chapter 2

_For those of you confused about Akane's behavior here, I've got a reason for it. Akane has basically gotten 1-2 years worth of maturity overnight thanks to her dream, and any uncertainty she had towards her feeling towards Ranma is gone now. Also, Akane strikes me as someone who greatly suppressed their sexuality to an unhealthy degree, for she likely feared showing any sexual desire was practically an invitation to be molested by those around her, even Ranma. Now she's no longer afraid he will do any such thing to her, so she doesn't need to repress herself around him, and once urges become unrepressed, they tend to flare up quite considerably. Not to mention she'd likely want him to call her cute and sexy rather than uncute and zero sex appeal._

Chapter Two

Akane wasn't the only one surprised to see these two. Genma looked downright terrified. "H-h-how did you find us?"

"We could have found you even if we had to chase you thru all of China fool."

"Are they friends of yours?" Kasumi asked the Saotomes.

Ranma slowly nodded. "In a way. They lived right by Jusenkyo and helped us understand the curses." He was then glomped by a girl with purple hair.

"Airen, why you leave?" She asked.

'Wait a minute, she has fox ears and a tail.' Akane told herself now that she could see the Amazon up close. She looked completely normal, except for the extra body parts, which like her cat form were white and lavender colored. 'Is her curse different too? And didn't she not get one this quick? Wait, she knows Ranma as a boy now? What the hell is going on here?'

"Who are you?" Soun asked.

"I am Cologne and this is my great-granddaughter Shampoo. And she is Ranma's wife-to-be."

Soun blanched, Kasumi and Nabiki just stared, and Akane frowned. "Says who?" She demanded.

"Says the laws and customs of our people. Not to mention it's the will of the Myouhi-sama, Goddess of Jusenkyo." Cologne plainly answered.

"Who?" Akane asked, blinking several times. 'Goddess of Jusenkyo? That's a new one.'

Cologne nodded. "The one who created Jusenkyo. Such a tremendous thing couldn't possibly have been created by any mere mortal. It was the creation of a deity."

Akane was confused, and she admitted more than just a bit curious, but right now she had something more important to worry about. "That still doesn't explain why you're here and she's hanging on the boy I just got engaged to."

Cologne was silent for a moment. "Oh, you must be one of the others our prophet told us of."

"One of the others? Can't you just give me a straight answer?" Akane asked, almost out of patience here.

"Okay then, we were told by a prophet that Ranma here and his descendants will be very important to our culture and is clearly blessed by our goddesses to have some control over his curse. We are here to help Ranma grow in the right direction and because we were told he is meant to have three brides, not just one. My great-granddaughter here is one of the three, as she has been picked by fate and blessed by our goddesses too with control over her own curse. You may be the second bride." Cologne answered, then raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe you aren't."

"Hold on, how can any man have more than one wife? It's not legal." Nabiki asked.

"Maybe not in your culture, but ours does permit it." Cologne answered.

"Wait, why would Amazons allow a man to have more than one wife?" Akane asked.

Shampoo and Cologne perked up at this and the elder looked firmly into the youngest Tendo's eyes. "I never said we were Amazons. How would you know that?"

Akane gulped when she realized her slip up. She just inadvertently revealed she knew more than she was supposed to. How was she going to explain this?

Cologne came closer to Akane, as if trying to see something up close. After a moment, she pulled back. "Hmm... perhaps you are one of the other two meant for him. Tell me girl, if the only way to be with Ranma was to share him with two others, would you take that offer?"

Akane thought about it, and that alone surprised the rest of her family beyond belief. Akane, the infamous boy-hating anti-pervert, was actually considering sharing a boy with two other girls, and a boy she had only just met? They all would have expected her to say 'No, he's not worth it' right away. _Any_ woman they knew would have. And yet Akane hadn't blown up and denied any desire to take part in such an endeavor. No, she was actually considering it.

For Akane it was a hard decision. In her dream the idea of sharing Ranma had never ever crossed her mind. Not even 'Let's all date him so we can decide which one of us works best with him'. No, the entire time it had been 'Ranma is mine so hands off' for all his pursuers to all other pursuers. Even Akane, the girl who in the dream didn't want him near her yet refused to see herself lose him to another, didn't ever contemplate the idea that maybe things might have worked out better had being with Ranma been handled as an effort in finding romance rather than winning some ego-contest with other girls.

Of course, this meant Akane still wasn't open to the idea Cologne was proposing. As soon as she learned Ranma was not just a figment of her imagination, she had already been planning on how to get Shampoo, Ukyo, and even Kodachi from their lovelife as soon as they showed up. The idea that she may have to let any of them remain and be active parts was not one she wanted to think about.

"With all due respect, you're asking a lot of me." Akane simply replied in a noncommittal way.

"I understand that. So will you allow me the opportunity to clarify my request away from prying judging ears?" Cologne requested.

This was an easier request for Akane to decide on. "I suppose I could at least hear you out."

"Wait, you're actually doing this Akane?" Nabiki asked, still expecting Akane to reject and tell either the Chinese women or Ranma to scram. Likely both.

Akane nodded. "I'm confused too, but I'm not going to get any answers if I don't hear them out first. Please don't listen in on us Nabiki, though that goes for all of you too."

It was hard to convince them, but Akane managed to go with the Amazons and Ranma into the dojo away from any listeners. Genma stayed away mostly because Soun insisted on an explanation from him at least. Kasumi and Nabiki would listen too, but unlike their father they were unlikely to take his word for it. This was the man who walked around China without being able to read a word of it after all. He had pretty much proven to them he didn't have the best judgment.

In the dojo Akane was seated across from Cologne, with Ranma seated agaisnt the wall and Shampoo next to him but not leaning beside him. She saw he looked uncomfortable but more like she was the cause instead of Shampoo. 'He's afraid this might ruin anything between us. I admit this complicates things, but that's because I didn't expect her to show up this soon or him to be on her good side either. What happened here that was different?'

"I imagine you were already told about how Son-in-law got his curse and how it works, right?" Cologne started. Akane nodded. "Good. Now, were you told what happened afterwards?" Akane shook her head. "Okay, we come from a tribe that lives close to Jusenkyo. We are the Joketsuzoku, an Amazon tribe where women are trained to be warriors and leaders. But I imagine you already knew that, didn't you?"

Akane did not give eye contact, but she did slowly nod. "Yes, but it's hard to explain."

"I think I understand exactly why this happened. You had a vision, did you not?" Cologne asked.

Akane was wide-eyed. "How did you...?"

Cologne smiled. "So, maybe you _are_ the one." She then turned to Ranma. "Son-in-law, she could very well be one of the others you were meant to be with."

"You sure about that?" Ranma asked.

Cologne nodded. "She does fit the criteria. But just to alleviate any confusion we shall inquire further." She then faced Akane again. "Please tell me your name so I don't call you the wrong one."

"I'm Akane. Akane Tendo."

"Well Ms Tendo, I am almost convinced that you might be one of Ranma's other destined brides. To eliminate any doubt I have left, tell me something that you couldn't possibly know without a vision beforehand. If you can't, then I'm afraid I will have to do everything in my power to keep you from him."

Akane frowned but then smiled when she realized all she had to do was give an answer and things would have to go her way. "Okay then. You live next close to the Musk and Phoenix tribes. A boy named Mousse with bad eyes is interested in Shampoo. You once encountered a despicable pervert named Happosai when you were eighteen." At Cologne's surprised face, Akane's smile widened. "Need I say more?"

Cologne lightly grinned. "That settles it. You are one of his destined ones."

"Hold on, how can you be so sure of that? We only just met today?" Ranma asked, confused.

Cologne looked to him. "Son-in-law, remember how we told you that you were meant to be with three girls, not just Shampoo?" He slowly nodded. "We were told one of the other two would come to you guided by the prophet themselves, and the other would have a vision of your arrival and a possible life with you. Akane here knows things that she could only know thru a vision. Akane here is meant to be one of your brides."

Ranma, still surprised, turned to Akane. "Did you really know I was coming here?"

Akane slowly nodded. "Yes Ranma. I knew you would come. I knew you had a curse. I knew that Shampoo would want to be involved with you too, and I think I know who the final 'bride' may be. The only problem is my... 'vision' wasn't entirely accurate."

"How so?" Cologne inquired.

"In it, Ranma only turned into a girl. There was no horse curse involved. And Shampoo didn't show up for over a month, and when she did she thought Ranma was a girl and tried to kill him under the Kiss of Death laws, until she decided to give his male form the Kiss of Marriage. And she was cursed to become a cat."

"Cat?" Ranma asked, tensing up.

Akane nodded. "I know about your fear too. That's still the worst thing I know your father ever did." Then she remembered the seppuku pledge and almost mentioned that, but she shut her mouth. 'No, don't overwhelm him. Let him relax then tell him about his mother. Hopefully this time we can avoid the whole Ranko fiasco.'

Cologne thought it over. "The prophet did say one of his brides would see _a_ future that _could_ happen, not the future that _will_ happen."

"You saw our future?" Ranma asked. "Is that why you wanted to be the one engaged to me?"

Akane nodded. "Yes Ranma. I thought it was just a dream, but when I heard you really were coming here, it made me feel so happy. Please give me a chance. I... I want to be with you. I'm still not certain I can handle sharing you, but I know I shouldn't try to control you. I also want to help you."

"How?"

"Well I can warn you ahead of time of possible threats and unnecessary risks. I know you hate turning down a challenge, but I can at least warn you what you're getting into before you do anything. And I think I know who the third girl for you is."

Ranma's eyes briefly widened. "Really?"

Akane nodded. "Yes, and you already know her. It's Ukyo Kuonji, your old okonomiyaki-making friend." 'I highly _highly_ doubt the third girl is Kodachi. Besides, Ukyo I can at least get along with.'

Ranma recognized the name but looked like he didn't believe her. "Ucchan? But he's a guy."

Akane shook her head. "No Ranma, Ukyo's a girl. Always has been. And I hate to admit it, but I think she's got a better body than I do. She just hides it well."

"Seriously? Ucchan's really a girl?"

Akane nodded. "Yes. Pay close attention to her when she shows up. Which should be in a couple of months but now I don't know for certain." She then turned to Cologne. "By the way, what really happened with Ranma and Shampoo?"

"It's quite a story." Cologne stated.

-Flashback-

Cologne and Shampoo were outside the village training for the upcoming martial arts competition the Amazon village had each year. They had no doubt Shampoo was going to win, but that didn't mean they were going to slack off here.

A rustle in the surrounding flora made them stop. 'Either a spying competitor, or that idiot Mousse is trying something again.' Cologne thought before pogoing towards the source of the sounds. To her surprise it wasn't a fellow Amazon or a certain myopic male, but a young girl with a horse's lower body laying on the ground looking exhausted.

'This girl must be a victim of Jusenkyo. How else do you explain a centaur in China?' Cologne thought.

"Wa... ter..." Ranma growled, sounding very dehydrated.

Cologne turned to her great-granddaughter and told her in Chinese to go fetch some water for this poor girl. Shampoo darted away and Cologne returned her attention to the centaur. "Can you understand me?" She asked in Japanese, figuring that since Ranma requested water in that language that things would be easier for them both if Cologne did too.

"So tired... running... for days. Need water..." Ranma told her.

'Drinkable water usually is hard to find in these parts outside tribe boundaries and with this curse she was probably too afraid to approach a single person for help.' The elder told herself. "Help is on the way. Then we'll get you some warm water too."

"Don't... need a bath."

"It's not for a bath." Cologne told her. 'She probably doesn't yet know how to return to normal form yet.'

In no time Shampoo returned carrying two small buckets of water and offered them out to Ranma.

"That was quick." Cologne commented, surprised Shampoo had made it home and back so soon. Then a frightening thought crossed her mind. "Shampoo, you didn't go to the springs did you?" She asked in Chinese.

Shampoo nodded. "Closest source of water."

Cologne immediately reached out and slapped the first bucket out of Ranma's hands before she could drink from it. Drinking water from Jusenkyo was considered just as bad as falling into one of the springs, and only safe if you were a man drinking from the nannichuan or a woman drinking from the nyannichuan.

Not wanting to lose her drink, Ranma tried to regrab the water but failed. This redirected the buckets movement thru the air and caused the water to spill onto Shampoo. Alarmed by the sudden sensation of cold, Shampoo tried to back away but tripped over the second bucket she had placed on the ground and broke it, causing it to create a puddle she fell into, thus covering her even further in Jusenkyo water.

'Oh, this won't be good. Please goddesses, let that be water from the nyannichuan.' Cologne prayed, wishing for the first time she had taught Shampoo more about Jusenkyo in the past.

Shampoo's body convulsed, as if the magical waters were struggling to do what they did best. The struggle ended as soon as it started and an obvious change took place on the purple-haired girl. Her human ears disappeared and atop her head emerged a set of lavender fox ears tipped white. Her fingernails lengthened to become claws and judging from the sight of a bulge forming on her posterior a tail was growing on her backside hidden by her silk pants. Overall, she looked like what the Japanese would call a kitsune-hanyou and what Americans might call a fox-girl.

'She took water from two springs?' Cologne asked herself. 'Why would she do such a thing?'

Shampoo sat up and winced when she put too much pressure on her compressed tail. Ranma saw her changed appearance and gasped. "Oh crap, did I do that? I'm so sorry."

"She'll be fine, we just need hot water to return her to normal." Cologne told the cursed young man.

"Hot water? Will that make me a guy again?"

"You're a male?" Cologne asked. Ranma nodded. "Strangle, one person who gets a mixed curse causes another to get a mixed curse. Almost sounds like an omen."

"Rest assured Elder, it is no omen. This is fate." A woman's voice told them all, but no speaker was seen. Then the ground started to bubble up and create a small pillar, which morphed as if sculpted by unseen hands until the form of a woman was seen, and if it wasn't for the fact she was made of dirt, she'd pass as exquisite.

"Who or what are you?" Ranma asked, her voice straining a bit and her horse legs making it difficult to get back on her feet... or hooves.

"My dear boy, I am Myouhi, Goddess of Jusenkyo, among other things." Each of the three there heard her speak in the language they knew best.

Cologne and Shampoo gasped then knelt in respect, but Ranma did nothing, mostly because she was still really thirsty. "I apologize for your curse Ranma Saotome, but it had to be done. Same with Shampoo here. Both of your futures require you to be cursed and connected. If not, you will never know happiness. You might find this hard to believe, but you actually have a brighter future this way than any other way."

"I find that... hard to believe." Ranma wheezed.

"Here, let me quench your thirst." Myouhi said before an earthen pitcher formed in her hand and filled with water. She held it out, the length of her arm modified to reach the centaur, and at this point Ranma was too thirsty to care about any risk. She accepted and drank from it, and after a few swallows she felt instantly better and saw she had returned to male form too.

"What the...? I'm cured?"

"Unfortunately no. What I have done is instead grant you control over your curse."

"Control over it?" Cologne asked.

Myouhi nodded. "Yes. I have decided that Ranma here can do more good if he has control over his curse. Ranma, you can choose whichever form you wish to be in, but I must warn you that water will still force an involuntary change for you. Cold water will turn you to a girl and hot water will turn you to a boy, but as long as you're dry you can be any of your three forms you desire."

"Really?" Ranma asked, and the earthen goddess nodded. "I guess that's better than nothing."

Myouhi took the pitcher away then handed it to Shampoo. "I offer you control too Shampoo, but if you take it, you must become a wife to Ranma."

"What?" Ranma and Shampoo asked.

Cologne cautiously approached the goddess. "Myouhi-sama, are you certain such a request is a wise idea?"

"Yes, I am. Go ask the visiting prophet if you want reassurance. But rest assured, my kin and I have discussed this and we foresee that your great-granddaughter and this young man are destined for each other." She then faced Shampoo. "It's either him or Mousse. But if you need time to decide, hold onto this for now. By sunset I will retrieve it."

Before anyone could protest, Myouhi placed the water-filled earthen pitcher in Shampoo's hands then sort of melted into the ground.

The two teens were dumbfounded, but Cologne got out of her stupor faster. "Okay then, let's go see the prophet."

-End Flashback-

"Who is this prophet?" Akane asked.

"An honorary member of the Amazons who doesn't live with us but travels and occasionally visits. According to the legends, her ancestors were blessed by both Myouhi-sama and Nemurimugen-sama, the Goddess of Dreams, and from this blessing the women in her family have the ability to foresee the future and allow others to get glimpses of it too. Our current prophet made a visit and we had to postpone our tournament for a day to accommodate her arrival."

"I don't remember anything about this in my vision." Akane commented.

"I can't say why, but she convinced us to give Ranma our Heaven and Earth Blessing, which goes to esteemed males who are highly favored by the goddesses. It's something that naturally is rarely used, and is meant as a compromise so our village hopefully never becomes too heavily populated by only one gender, to have the man marry more than one woman. If the woman is not an Amazon she would be an honorary member of the village and even be able to train as if she were a member. Not only that but her children with the husband would be considered members of the village."

"Did she ever say exactly why Ranma should get this blessing?" Akane asked.

"Let's just say she convinced myself and the others in charge of the Amazons that Ranma is not the type of person who can be limited to just one outlet. Wild horses are tamed and trained by teams, not individuals." Cologne said, sounding a bit impressed by Ranma. "In either case, the prophet said she had seen Ranma's future and told us how to improve it by giving him the blessing and told us that three girls were destined to bring him and our village to glory. One would be a native of Jusendo who shared a curse like his. One would be a girl who received a vision courtesy of the prophet's power. One would be a girl who was already seeking out Ranma in pursuit of happiness."

Akane slowly nodded. "Shampoo... me... and Ukyo."

"Can you accept such a situation?" Cologne pressed. "Would you accept being with Ranma if it meant you couldn't be the only girl he's with?"

Akane looked to Ranma then sighed. "I'm not sure yet, but it can't be worse than us fighting over him. I know what it's like to have someone fight over you like a prize to claim." She then choked up. 'And yet in my dream I never realized that's what we had been doing to Ranma. We were to him what the Hentai Horde was to me.'

Ranma sensed her discomfort but wasn't certain what it was about. "Something wrong?"

She nodded. "Yes, I've been being harassed at school lately. And I'd like your help to end it Ranma. My vision might not have foretold everything accurately, but as long as you are the same man I fell for, I know I can rely on you. And..." She paused for a moment. "I would do anything to have a chance to be with you for real."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

With the talk with Cologne finished, after warning her Happosai would unfortunately return sometime in the near future, Akane asked to talk to Ranma in private. He agreed, though Shampoo felt a bit reluctant and had to be told to wait for him to come back to her.

Akane took Ranma to the only place that they'd have any form of privacy in, her room. Luckily Nabiki didn't really have cameras and microphones embedded in the walls to catch what her sister did in private; that was borderline criminal and the mercenary knew what she could and couldn't legally get away with.

Akane sat on her bed and Ranma took the chair at her desk. "You look a little uncomfortable." She started off.

"What do ya expect? You already know me and I don't know anything about you." He told her, not sounding at all harsh.

"Would you like to know about me Ranma?" She asked.

He thought it over for a second. "How much about me do you already know?"

"Please correct me if I'm wrong on anything." She began, and saw him nod before she continued. "You've been traveling around most of Japan and China for as long as you can remember. You have no memory of your mother and even though you don't realize it yet you do want to see her again if you ever get the chance."

"Wait, you know about my mom?" Ranma interjected.

Akane nodded. "Yes, and I think I know where she lives, though that part of my dream may have been wrong. I will help you meet her again and make a good impression, but now's not the right time. She'll be happier if we become more friendly with each other first."

"You sure about that?" Ranma asked.

Akane nodded. "Trust me on this Ranma. I also know you're deathly afraid of cats thanks to your father, but you're not really afraid of anything else. You hate being called a girl because your father told you they're all weak and helpless, which I hope you learn is not true. Your oldest friend is Ukyo Kuonji from Kyoto, but you always thought she was boy, but your father arranged for you to be engaged to her and robbed her family right after it. Right now she's trying to find you, either for revenge or to become your fiancee. You also had a friend named Ryoga Hibiki from your last school who's got a terrible sense of direction and is trying to find you to fight you. Is any of this wrong?"

Ranma thought it over. "So far no, though I didn't know about Ucchan's situation or Ryoga's actions until just now. How do you know about them?"

"If the gist of my vision is enough to go by, then they both will be showing up here in a matter of months. Not at the same time though. Remember that duel Ryoga challenged you to just before you left for China? The one you waited three days for and he never showed up?" Ranma nodded, surprised she knew that much. "He decided to follow you. All the way to China. How he could do that and still not meet up with you on time, I'll never know. But he reached Jusenkyo shortly after you did, and unless something's different, he's got a curse too."

"Really?"

Akane nodded. "Yes. In my dream, you were angry at your father and chased him down wanting to beat the crap out of him for bringing you to Jusenkyo in the first place. Without even realizing it, you knocked Ryoga into the springs and never learned until he found you here, wanting to kill you for it."

All of a sudden, she didn't want to tell him the rest of that story. How she adopted P-chan and never knew he was Ryoga, how Ranma tried to keep the pig and lost boy from her because he was jealous and offended by them both, and how Akane always sided against Ranma on the issue because she was ignorant of the truth and somewhat spiteful towards Ranma. She wanted to create a bond with Ranma, not tell him about the wedges that had been between them originally.

Ranma thought over his time in Jusendo. "I don't remember anything like that, but you're right about me being angry at Pop. What about Ucchan?"

"Her father approached your own in hopes of engaging you two. At first, your father was against it, because you were already promised to a Tendo, but when Ukyo's father offered the okonomiyaki cart as dowry, he decided to consider it. He then asked you if you liked Ukyo or okonomiyaki more, but he didn't specify in what way. After you said okonomiyaki, he decided to take the cart and run off. Ukyo chased after you two saying you were supposed to take her along but your father had other ideas. Personally I think your father already made up his mind on what he was going to do but wanted a way to get you blamed too."

"I... don't remember any of that." Ranma said before thinking it over. "Wait, I do remember riding a cart while saying goodbye to Ucchan, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. Now it doesn't make any sense."

"That was your father stealing from her. She's angry and feels abandoned, and slighted as a woman since her fiancee 'ditched' her, at least in her eyes. She's been training to fight you, but when you two reunited she decided to resume the engagement because you called her cute and wanted to keep being friends." Akane told him, then sighed. "There were many times I was jealous of her in my dream."

"Why?" Ranma asked.

Akane sighed, not sure how to best explain this. "Why not? She's a better cook than I am, you had no problem calling her your friend, and you even called her your cute fiancee. In my dream, she was the one I was most afraid to lose you to. I didn't worry as much about Shampoo, but I still worried. I..." She then stopped, not sure sure what else to say. "I was afraid I was the least favorite of your fiancees."

Ranma looked just as surprised as he did confused. "Did I actually play favorites in your dream?"

"I'm not sure." Akane answered. "At times you might have, but I don't think you were doing it on purpose. Your father did kind of teach you that women weren't on the same level as men so you probably couldn't help some of your behavior towards us."

"Did I ever hurt you?" He asked.

Akane avoided eye contact. "Sometimes, yes you did. But I'm not completely innocent either. We both were rude and crude to each other at times, sometimes fighting so badly I'm amazed our engagement didn't fall apart completely."

"But then, why would ya want it now?" Ranma asked.

Akane looked at him, unshed tears in her eyes, then got on the floor before him on her knees. "Because I... I loved you Ranma. I still do, I love you." She held up her hand before he could say anything. "I know you don't know me yet and can't love me right now, but I'll do anything to make that possible for you. Anything. We fought a lot and didn't always get along in my vision, but I loved you and you loved me, and we almost did get married. It ended before I could see if we did, and when I woke up and thought I'd never see you again, I felt dead inside. I _need_ you in my life Ranma."

Now tears were pouring down her face, though not quite to a Soun degree. Ranma never liked seeing a woman cry and knelt down to wipe her tears away. Akane had never before been so tempted to kiss him as she was right now, but she had to resist.

"Please don't cry." He told her. "Look, I didn't come here wanting to gain a fiancee, but if you really mean what you say, I admit I'm curious to see for myself what might happen. Besides, I doubt Pop intends to leave anyway."

Akane nodded. "Free lodging and food, all he has to do is play shogi with Dad? Yeah, he'll reeeeeally turn that down." They both chuckled a bit at the sarcastic tone.

"You think you can handle the old ghoul trying to push two others on me at the same time?" He asked, making the conversation serious again.

Akane took a deep breath. "It's going to be tough, but if we can get along this time rather than compete over you, I'll try it. I'd rather be forced to share you than not have you in my life at all Ranma."

"Wow, I don't know what I did in your vision to make you love me this much, but I hope I don't blow it this time." He replied.

Akane chuckled and wiped her own eyes.

Neither one of them knew that they had an eavesdropper on the other side of the door.

* * *

While the two teens were talking to each other, Cologne was straightening things out with Soun.

"I don't care that you came here from China. You could have come from the moon for all I care. Ranma is already promised to one of my daughters and nothing will change that." The Tendo patriarch expressed firmly, almost a bit too firmly for Kasumi and Nabiki's likings.

Cologne was undaunted. "Tendo, do you really think we would have come all the way from China with the Saotomes without learning _why_ they were returning to Japan?" She paused to let that sink in. "We already knew Genma was bringing Ranma here to meet your daughters. If we wanted to stop it we would have. In fact, the only reason we didn't show up with them is because that fat fool tried to ditch us. Again."

"So if you didn't want to interfere, why show up in the first place?" Nabiki asked.

"I thought I already made that clear. Ranma is destined to have three wives. I just wanted to see if any of the women here might be one of them."

"Three wives is impossible. Maybe he could get a polygamous marriage somewhere else, but here in Japan it wouldn't be recognized as legal." Nabiki stated.

"Again, you're assuming I came here acting blindly. I already have a plan for that which should prove beneficial to all involved. However, I will not reveal what it is until all brides are found and ready to be with their groom."

Nabiki didn't like the sound of that. 'I should definitely keep an eye on her.'

"Excuse me, but even if you and your granddaughter can accept sharing Ranma with others, what if our sister doesn't?" Kasumi asked. "Also, I don't think we can approve of engaging our sister to a man who cannot be faithful."

"It's only unfaithful if it's not permitted." Cologne replied. "Besides, my instincts tell me your sister may not be against the idea."

"With all due respect, we know her better than you." Nabiki told the Amazon elder.

"I imagine so, but that doesn't mean you can anticipate her every reaction, can you?"

"We-"

"Can you?" Cologne pressed.

Neither of the girls answered, not sure how best to. As they thought it over, a small lavender fox walked into the room and sat down beside Cologne.

Kasumi smiled at seeing the animal. "My, what a cute fox. I've never seen one in that color before."

Cologne looked down at it. "So how did it go?"

The fox suddenly morphed into a fox-featured and fully clothed Shampoo seated like an animal for a moment before repositioning herself. "It go well. Airen and Dream-Girl get along fine. She want be with him."

"What?" Nabiki asked. "You can't be serious. Our sister would never agree to something like this."

"Apparently she did." Cologne rebutted.

Nabiki rose from her seat. "This I got to see for myself." Nobody stopped her from leaving the room.

Soun reestablished his firm look at Cologne. "Regardless of anything else, I do not care about anything you may have in mind that will interfere in the joining of the Anything Goes schools."

"We will not interfere. In fact, we encourage your daughter to be with the young Saotome." Cologne said, catching Soun off guard. "If you would cooperate with us, I think you might be pleasantly pleased with the future results."

"And if I don't?" Soun challenged.

Cologne took a deep breath and Shampoo frowned. "Then be prepared to handle a rebellious side in your daughter. For I suspect she will go along with our arrangement despite your insistence she not."

Nabiki walked back into the room, looking like she saw something that she still could not comprehend. Behind her walked in Ranma and Akane, but the two were holding hands.

Akane looked at her father. "Dad, Ranma and I talked it over, and we've decided to try and make the engagement work between us." The Tendo patriarch and the Saotome patriarch almost burst into a mini-celebration right there. "However, we will get married when we decide, not you, and I will not force Shampoo to not be involved with Ranma."

"What?" Genma shouted. "Don't you know what I've tried to get rid of them as they followed me from China?"

"We weren't following, we were traveling companions." Cologne corrected. "Ranma and Shampoo needed to learn about their curses and frankly both were grateful for company their own age. That fat mule there was the one trying to get away from us, not Ranma."

Akane slowly nodded. "I imagine with no Kiss of Death Ranma had to reason to escape you did he?"

Cologne nodded. "True. Besides, Shampoo's curse kind of made it hard to separate the two anyway."

"How so?" Akane asked then looked to Ranma. "Is it because you felt guilty over her getting it?"

"Somewhat, but that's not all." Ranma admitted.

"Shampoo got pet fox curse." The lavender-haired girl stated. "Water from Spring of Drowned Pet Fox, so Shampoo become fox that want master. Airen master. Shampoo his pet."

Akane looked at Cologne. "That one of those behavior-affecting springs?"

The elder Amazon nodded. "Yes. Her cursed form compells her to act domesticated and bond with a suitable... tamer for lack of a better word. And as you can see she attached herself to Son-in-law. She's not a slave or a mindless animal, but her cursed form feels a need to make Son-in-law happy."

"And how does she feel when she's in her normal form and mind?" Nabiki asked.

"Would we have left China if she didn't like being with him even then?" Cologne asked.

Nabiki was silent, but Kasumi nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. Ranma must be quite a man to make two girls like him so much so quickly."

"Kuno-baby is going to hate this guy so much then." Nabiki commented.

Akane groaned. "Don't remind me. Although maybe we can do something about him."

Ranma looked at her. "Someone bothering you?"

"Very much so. I can beat him back but he's so damn persistent I'm almost convinced I'd have to break his legs and jaw to get him to stop at least for a while. Maybe if we work together we can stop him once and for all without killing him." Akane explained.

"Want Shampoo help?" The Chinese girl asked.

"May not be the worst idea, though you might need to become a student first."

Ranma was confused. "Is this guy bothering you at school?"

"Where did you think I knew him? A store?" Akane asked back.

"I've got to go back to school?" Ranma asked, not fond of the idea.

"It'll give us more time to get to know each other better." Akane told him with a warm smile.

Kasumi smiled at Soun. "Look at that Father, they're getting along well."

Soun was noting that, and like Nabiki suspected there was something there he didn't understand. And like his middle child he wasn't taking Cologne's claims of prophecy and divine intervention seriously. "Even so, we only have enough room to accommodate my friend and his son. Our house cannot support four live-in guests."

"No worries. We won't be staying here. We came here on a work visa, so we intend to set up a shop in town while Son-in-law gets his affairs set. We won't intrude, but we're not leaving either." Cologne told him.

While still not his first choice, Soun knew he couldn't argue it. "I suppose that will suffice. And I suppose I can be polite enough to refer you to a decent hotel in town."

"No need, we can handle camping out." Cologne replied without batting an eye.

Shampoo was less pleased. "But Shampoo-"

"Trust me child, it will be fine." The older Amazon told her pupil, who signed and relented.

* * *

The rest of the night went a bit smoother for the residents of the Tendo estate after the Amazons left. Kasumi and Nabiki mostly left Ranma and Akane alone, mostly to avoid seeing even more surprises. Not to mention neither one of them could make sense of Akane's behavior.

Akane woke up early and slowly walked out into the hall. 'I need to make sure that yesterday wasn't a dream too. As long as Ranma's there in his room, I'll be happy.'

As quietly as she could, she opened the door to his room. There on a futon slept a pigtailed young man wearing a tank top and boxes, sprawled out comfortably and sleeping peacefully.

Akane felt a rush of gratitude and warmth flow over her. 'He's really here. We really can make this work.' Then she noticed something out of place: a small fox curled up on the futon with him. 'Shampoo must have snuck in. I better warn her so no one else sees her here.'

Akane then carefully picked up the lavender vixen, making sure not to wake anyone even her, then carried her down to the furo. 'Strange, just the other day I all but hated her, and now I'm actually cooperating with her. Am I out of my mind or something?' She stopped to think about it for a second, but kept walking. 'Maybe it's because so much is different here and I'd rather not add to that. Yeah, for the time being until I get a grip on this situation I should just go along with it, then make an effort if it gets too much out of hand.'

She then reached the furo. 'Besides, there is something I want to ask her.'

Akane filled up the furo with a small amount of water, then rustled the fox awake. The animal was disoriented, but once she saw where she was Shampoo almost bolted.

"Relax, I just wanted to ask you something." Akane told her.

Shampoo suddenly shifted to her fox-girl form, clothed for the record. "No need water for that. Myouhi-sama's blessing give Shampoo control."

Akane groaned. "Damn, I forgot that part. I'm too used to the whole hot-cold part of the curse. Anyway, I wanted to ask what do you have planned for Ranma?"

The Chinese girl lightly tilted her head. "I want be with Airen, be wife."

"Why though?"

Akane had never really understand Shampoo's persistence in her dreams. Sure, following village tradition and law was one thing, but most of the time it looks like Shampoo really was happy to be engaged to Ranma, even on the same day it happened. Akane always figured that any girl would have at least some resistance to immediately being with a man she didn't know, and yet the very next morning, both in the dream and right now, Shampoo was seen sleeping next to Ranma and looking more than content.

Apparently this Shampoo was no different. "Shampoo too too fond of Airen. He unlike other stupid boys home. He fun. He kind."

"He's not like Mousse, is he?" Akane added.

Shampoo's ears perked up. "You smart Dream Girl. Yes, Airen not like Mousse. Airen not obsessive or weak fighter. And he much sexier."

Akane blushed but lightly smiled. "I'm not going to argue that part. But still, do you really want to marry him?"

"Do you?" Shampoo asked back but with no challenge in her voice.

Akane was too surprised by the question to answer right away. "Y... yes, I do. But I feel like I've known him for over a year already and I don't want to lose him. What about you?"

"Shampoo must. Drink from Myouhi-sama's pitcher. Must wed Airen or be damned."

"Is that it?" Akane asked.

Shampoo looked down, as if remembering something unpleasant. "You know Razor yes?"

Akane was immediately confused. "That a Chinese person? I never heard anyone by that name before."

"Not even in dream?"

Akane shook her head. "Nope."

Shampoo was surprised, but added more. "Shampoo have... more than one stupid boy obsessed. Mousse actually friendliest of all them, old friend who suddenly get horny for Shampoo. Other boys and Razor not like Airen and try fight him. Razor try take me to hideout and have way with me. Airen come to me and save me. Shampoo cannot thank Airen enough for that."

Akane was speechless. 'It sounds like she has her own version of the Hentai Horde back in her home. My dream never said anything about that. And Mousse, someone I once thought of as her personal Kuno, is actually the nicest boy in that group? No wonder she was so desperate to get Ranma to be with her.'

"Grandmother talk to Prophet, and Shampoo granted leave with Airen from village for time." Shampoo continued. "Grandmother go along to keep watch over fat mule and help fulfill prophecy."

"What prophecy?" Akane asked.

"Airen can either save Amazons or destroy them. If he take three brides, he save. If he take one, he destroy. One bride come from tribe. One see glimpse of future. One be delivered to Airen. All three help airen become great champion and be mothers to great heroes of Amazons. If not, Amazon doom for certain."

"Doesn't make complete sense to me, but I suppose if magic is real prophecy shouldn't be disregarded as fake so easily." Akane mentioned.

"Shampoo want Airen happy. Will you help?" Shampoo asked.

"We want the same thing, so yes, I guess this time I will. But let's discuss this later. You should head out before any of my family know you're here."

Shampoo nodded and quietly sneaked outside.

Leaving the furo room, but keeping water there for after her jog, Akane went back to her room to change. "This is going to take some getting used to."


	5. Chapter 4

_Happy Birthday Greenicedragon1789. Hope you enjoy this._

Chapter Four

Morning in the Tendo house usually consisted of Kasumi making breakfast, Soun reading the newspaper, Nabiki still in pajamas looking like the living dead until she got some coffee in her, and Akane getting a three minute jog in before eating. Today was no exception, but there was a new element added in.

The wake-up spar of Ranma and Genma Saotome, which was in full swing.

The Tendo's who were noticing it for the first time didn't show much physical reaction to it. Soun kept reading his paper, not the least bit surprised that his old friend was still active in the arts. You don't go on a training trip if you aren't active after all. Kasumi kept making breakfast as if nothing was different, though she did keep an ear open in case someone got injured. Nabiki covered her ears to drown out the noise, cursing them for giving her what felt like a nonalcoholic hangover.

Akane however, still in her jogging outfit consisting of a yellow tank top and red shorts, looked at the two and smiled warmly, glad to see Ranma act the way she remembered him. She kept her eyes on how he moved, how he jumped, and how he would occasionally look her way once he noticed she was watching.

'He's so magnificent.' She told herself, admiring what she barely let herself appreciate before. She then looked up at the sky, noticing an overcase of clouds along with the slight mist that had been around when she jogged. 'Looks like we might have rain this morning. Hope Ranma can avoid it. He really should get an umbrella like Ryoga did.'

"Mr. Saotome, Ranma, breakfast." Kasumi called out to them both, when Ranma was standing atop a rock and Genma was on the other side of the koi pond.

"Let's stop for breakfast." Genma said. However, he jumped into the air for one last move, and Ranma countered with a jump as well, them colliding above the water. Genma appeared to have the upper hand here and knocked his son down into the koi pond. "You're too easily distracted boy." He criticized as he landed then laughed a bit triumphantly.

As soon as Ranma got out in human female form, she got behind him almost too quickly to follow and kicked him in. "Oh yeah?"

"Do we have any hot water ready?" Nabiki asked.

"Not yet. In the meantime Mr. Saotome will have to settle for this." Kasumi said before pulling out a bucket of oats for the now-mule. Everyone wondered where she got that so quickly, but no one asked.

Genma as a mule and Ranma as a girl sat down with the Tendo's trying to enjoy breakfast together for the first time. Akane had a hard time keeping her eyes on her food and her fiancee at the same time. It got even harder once Ranma was dry enough to turn himself back into a male. She didn't care at all about when Genma was given water to turn back to normal.

"Don't forget boy you have to go to school now." Genma told his son once he was human.

Already aware of this, Ranma just nodded but didn't look happy about it. 'I wonder what trouble Akane wants me to help her out with. She said it was one guy harassing her, and I'm guessing he can put up a good fight if she needs help.'

Akane had neglected to inform Ranma much about Kuno and the Hentai Horde. She did it because she knew they were something he could easily deal with without being warned. Besides, it'd give them something to talk about later.

After breakfast Nabiki was the first to get dressed and head out. But before she left, she gave her younger sister a confused look. Akane in return gave her a firm one. 'Remember what I said last night Nabiki, no telling anyone anything for money on this. This is about us, not you.'

It didn't take much longer for Akane and Ranma to get ready and head towards school, going down Akane's normal path. She smiled to see him walk atop the fence like she remembered.

"So, what do we tell everyone?" Ranma asked.

"Well, we could just tell everyone we're engaged and get it over with. Or we could hide it and wait for someone to find out and tell the whole school."

"How long do you think that would take?" Ranma offhandedly asked.

"In my dream, before we finished our first class together half the school heard thanks to my sister."

"She a gossip?" The pigtailed boy questioned.

"Not exactly. Gossips do it for free. She's more of an information merchant, someone that charges for you to hear from her or to stay silent." The youngest Tendo clarified.

Ranma jumped off the fence and landed beside her. "So... wouldn't that make her a gossip prostitute?"

Akane stopped in her tracks, her expression blank, and Ranma worried he had offended her. But after a moment she grinned and giggled. "Cruel, but damn that's a good analogy." She then started walking again and he picked up the pace again.

"Tell me about this guy that's been bothering you." Ranma told her.

"He's... watch out!" Akane said.

Too late. Ranma was hit by a splash of water from the old ladle lady, who acted like she wasn't even aware she hit someone let alone triggered a sex change in that someone.

"Great. Just great." Ranma groaned, trying to wring some of the water off her clothes. Then she turned around. "I better go get a bath."

"There's no time for that." Akane said.

Ranma stopped and faced her. "You think I want to start my first day as a girl?"

Akane reached into her bag and pulled out a small towel she remembered to stash away. "But if you get dry, you won't need hot water to change back right?"

Ranma nodded and accepted the towel, drying off as quickly as she could as they kept walking. "So... about that guy you say is bugging ya?"

"Oh yeah. He's an upperclassman in Nabiki's class. Some time ago he got it into his head that he had the right to dictate my love life and made a scene about it. He gathered up almost all the men in school and told them the only way he'd allow anyone to date me was if they beat me in combat."

"Seriously?" Ranma asked, now dry enough to turn himself back into a male.

Akane nodded. "Yeah, and thanks to that dumbass every morning half the school ambushes me trying to overwhelm me. Then after I beat them Kuno himself, that's his name by the way, Tatewaki Kuno, he shows up trying to fight me and says win or lose one of us _will_ date the other."

"How often has he won?" Ranma asked as they passed by Tofu's clinic.

Akane glanced at it, remembering the original events. 'No reason to stop by now since we don't need hot water.' Then she turned back to the pigtailed young man. "Actually, none. And the group now dubbed the Hentai Horde haven't been able to beat me yet either. At first I thought I was the strongest martial artist in town because I never lost, but lately I'm thinking they're all just letting me win."

"Guys do tend to let up a lot when fighting a girl." Ranma commented. "But if they aren't trying to win, then why are they still doing this?"

Having never asked that before, Akane tried to come up with an answer. "I... I have no idea. In my dream they never said exactly why they went along with Kuno. They just stopped after seeing you and me get along, realizing their way wasn't working. Kuno was the only one who insisted on remaining the same and kept trying to come between us. He even pursued your girl form too."

"What?" Ranma looked downright revolted.

Akane nodded. "Yeah. No matter how many times we tried to make it clear to him you were a guy, he couldn't see it. Amazing, he would accuse you of using magic left and right to control girls, yet the idea you used magic to become a girl was completely and utterly foreign to him."

"Sounds like an idiot."

Akane smirked. "Calling him an idiot is an insult to idiots everywhere. But I suppose I don't know what else to call him."

At that moment the gates to Furinkan High came into view, and Akane took a deep breath. 'Let's just get this over with.' "Ranma, could you please stay out of this just this once? I need to test my skills after being confused by that vision."

He looked a bit reluctant, but the young Saotome agreed to her request.

On cue, a mass amount of teenage boys wearing various sports apparel darted forward towards her. More than one of them were even brandishing club-appropriate weapons such as hockey sticks, bokkens, and epees. They shouted off a lot of declarations of love, but with so many talking at once it was hard to make sense of any of them. Nabiki watched from the window of her classroom and Ranma watched with great difficulty while sitting on the wall around the schoolgrounds.

Akane trusted her body to know what it was doing, since as far as it was concerned this was still recent activity. She punched, she kicked, she dodged, she jumped, she combined these moves, all moving like she was born to move this way.

'She sure knows what she's doing.' Ranma thought, impressed by her ability to handle so many opponents at once, even though he could tell that the majority of them were indeed holding back. And those that weren't, didn't seem to be skilled enough here.

Nabiki and two of her classmates watched this too, Nabiki interested in seeing what Ranma would do. 'He's just sitting there watching. Either he's not interested in helping her, or she asked him to stay out of it. But at least he's not showboating or being violent here.'

The fight ended pretty quickly, and Akane was the only one standing. 'Good, I still got it.' She almost didn't sense the rose being flung at her, but by reflex alone she managed to catch it. 'Oh great.' She mentally groaned, her face reflecting her irritation. 'Here he comes, right on cue.'

The he in question then strolled up to her from behind a tree, walking as if he owned the place. "The toll of the bell at the top of the temple of Gion, shows us the transience of all." Akane looked annoyed, and Ranma looked more than a bit confused. "And the color of the blossoms on the trees demonstrates that all which prospers, must someday decline."

'This is the guy?' Ranma asked himself, seeing a guy with brown hair, closed eyes, blue haori and black hakama and wielding a bokken, speaking poetically.

"Such a boorish lot, truly." He continued, eyes still closed. "Evidently each of them thought to date with you. On the dawn of the day they defeated you, that is. They should learn their limitations." As he spoke the clouds got thicker and darker and Akane tensed up, ready to hit him for never taking a hint in her dream about her or Ranma.

"I'm not interested in them or you." Akane stated. She tried to get around, but he lifted his bokken, making her stop.

"Well then, Akane tendo," With her still, he positioned his bokken so it was pointing forward, not to his right side. "Will you spar with me?"

Ranma jumped to land by his fiancee's side. "So this is the head idiot?"

"Yeah, it's him. Be on your guard. He may let up on me but he shows no mercy to men."

Kuno finally opened his eyes, revealing them to be a dull blue color, and looked firmly at Ranma, as if dissecting him. "You there." He pointed his bokken to Ranma. "Aren't you being awfully familiar with Akane?"

"Not as familiar as she is with me." Ranma commented quietly.

"Enough insolence. I demand to know who you are."

Ranma perked a bit. "Well I'm-"

"Wait, is it not the custom to give one's own name first?" Kuno cut in, surprising Ranma.

Akane leaned closer. "Try not to listen here. It's the definition of nonsense."

Kuno obviously didn't hear that. "Fine. Then mine I shall give. Listen carefully for I will say this only once."

"Yeah right." Akane moaned. 'I'd scram if I wasn't so utterly convinced he'd follow us to our homeroom to finish this crap.'

"The rising new star of the high school kendo world, my strength is beyond measure. I am the captain of the Furinkan High kendo club, my voice alone can silence a crying baby, and I am in Class 2-E." He pratted on, completely oblivious to how ridiculous he sounded, and pointed his bokken towards the sky. "My peers call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, Tatewaki Kuno." A bit of lightning ominously flashed and he lowered his wooden sword.

Akane tried not to show her lack of patience around this fool 'Why, why why does this idiot act like this? I swear I can't take this from him a second time. I'm going to break his spine someday if we don't make him stop.'

"Did he just call himself Blue Thunder?" One of Nabiki's classmates asked.

"You heard that one before?" Another asked.

Nabiki, who simply had a flat look on her face, shook her head. "Nope. That's news to me." And coming from her that _really_ said everything.

"Last I heard he was calling himself Shooting Star." The second classmate added.

"He can call himself whatever he wants. Doesn't mean we'll call him the same thing." Nabiki stated.

Ranma meanwhile had no idea what to think here, but he could clearly see exactly why Akane had been rejecting this guy's advances all this time. "Well, I'm... I'm a guest at her house."

"A guest?" Kuno asked, looking like the word 'guest' meant 'invader' or something of the sort. "You're staying under the same roof as Akane?" He gripped his bokken harder and sprinted forward to attack.

Ranma was surprised to see him react like this to his words, and backflipped to avoid the strike. "I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts." He declared in midair, then threw his bookbag to Akane who caught it. He then landed and took on a stance. "And I accept your challenge."

Akane looked up and saw it was going to rain any moment. "Wait you two." Both men looked at her. "Class is about to start. Wouldn't it be wiser to postpone your spar until a more appropriate time slot?"

Kuno smiled. "Ah, a wise idea my fair Akane. Though I know I'd win effortlessly within no time at wall, the lack of stress from a time limit would permit us a more exhilarating display of might." He then sheathed his weapon. "Saotome was it? Let us continue after the school hours. Then you shall see how strong I am."

"Umm... likewise." Ranam said.

The three then walked into the school, Ranma narrowly avoiding the rain. 'Thanks Akane.'

* * *

Genma had been watching the whole time, seeing how they got along if at all. He remained unnoticed thanks to the Umi-Senken, and even as a mule now thanks to the rain he was still unnoticed by all others. 'So far so good.' He told himself, then went back to the Tendos.

* * *

"Class, we have a new student joining us today." The homeroom teacher of Class 1-F said while Ranma stood before the room. "His name is Ranma Saotome, and it seems he's just returned from a trip to China. So let's all be sure to give him a big 'Nihao' now."

Akane almost cringed at hearing that word. Sure she got the implied joke, but the word 'Nihao' just reminded her of the Shampoo in her dreams riding the Bicycle of Death and creating more problems. 'Calm down, this Shampoo is different Akane. Don't forget that.' She told herself to squash her negativity.

No one actually said Nihao, mostly because they were wondering who this guy was if he came to school with Akane and she let him be near her so easily. The boys were a bit jealous and the girls were more than a bit curious.

Luckily this time he and Akane didn't have to stand in the hallways holding buckets of water, so they could start their school day as normal.

* * *

"What? Fi-fiancee? He's... her... fiancee?" Kuno asked, disbelieving what his greatest source of information had just told him for the price he paid her.

The rest of the class and even the teacher looked towards the two of them, out of shock from what Kuno said, and surprise he was being so dramatic even in class. Nabiki just looked bored. "Yep, my dad's friend brought over his son and Akane decided she wanted to marry him someday. I still don't understand why."

"That wretch!" Kuno shouted. He likely would have said more, but an eraser thrown at him by the teacher silenced him.

"Kuno, go stand out in the halls."

"Y-yes sir."

* * *

'I wonder when Kuno will-' Akane started to ask herself about five minutes after class started. Her thoughts were cut off by Kuno barging thru the class door, looking like he just had to hurt someone right then and there. 'Bingo.' She wearily told herself.

"Ranma Saotome I won't allow it!" He proclaimed with nonexistent authority.

Already at her limit for the delusional kendoist, Akane stood up. "Kuno, my personal life is absolutely none of your business! Get that thru your thick skull!"

"I still will not-" Kuno tried to counter, but was intercepted by Akane's teacher.

"Sir, return to your room at once or I'll put you up on report."

Kuno groaned and relented. "Yes sir." He then backed out. Kuno may have been a little out of touch with reality, but even he knew he couldn't boss around the faculty.

Akane sighed in relief. 'That was close. For now no one else knows about me and Ranma. Though apparently Nabiki didn't keep her mouth shut.'

"Akane Tendo, go stand out in the hall for your little outburst."

The youngest Tendo groaned. "Yes Sensei."

As she walked out into the hallway, only one thought crossed her mind. 'At least this way Ranma won't fall in the pool.'


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Akane was not so naive as to assume she could avoid Kuno until after school, but she was hopeful. Too bad once lunchtime came all hope was lost.

If there was one way to guarantee a rumor would spread over Furinkan like wildfire fueled by kerosene, it was to have Nabiki confirm it or start it up. Somehow in about four hours and with few breaks between classes, knowledge of Akane having a fiancee went from just Nabiki's class to half of Furinkan. And as soon as Akane's class was out to eat, they became part of the knowing side.

Akane and Ranma went outside to eat the bentos Kasumi prepared for them, giving Ranma the same thing Akane got since Kasumi didn't know what he favored. As soon as they set foot outside the pair was swamped by students they didn't recognize asking if the rumors were true.

"None of your damn business." Akane firmly told the entire group. "Seriously, _how_ is this any of your business? Tell me."

Unable to answer that, and thus unable to save face if they continued, the majority of the student body decided to drop the issue at least around the new couple.

Only two students could safely approach them, Akane's old friends Yuka and Sayuri, who heard the news thru the grapevine. "Hey Akane. You mind if we talk to you for a moment?" They asked, carefully treading where others had stepped on landmines.

Akane was a bit cautious. 'If I remember correctly, nowhere in my dream did it mention what these two thought about Ranma. So right now they could say virtually anything on the matter. I better play it safe.' "I suppose, though I'm not going to ask Ranma to go away. He has no one but me and Nabiki to talk to and I at least won't charge him for a conversation."

Her two friends looked a bit uneasy. "Umm... you sure about that? It's kind of... well, girl talk?"

"You mean you want to talk _about_ Ranma right?" Akane inquired. Judging from their body language, she knew that was exactly what they wanted to talk about. "All you two need to know is he's someone I can trust and his family is going to be staying with mine for a while now."

"But what about the rumors going around?" Yuka asked.

"So what? Doesn't mean a single one of them is true."

"Then tell us what the truth is." Sayuri insisted.

"I already did. As for if we're more then housemates, that's nobody's business but our own."

Yuka and Sayuri then looked at Ranma. "So how about you tell us who you are and why you're staying with Akane?"

Ranma was nervous but steeled himself. "Why should I? Looks to me like the only reason you care is so you can have a reason to not like me."

"Yuka, Sayuri." Akane said, regaining their attention. "If that _is_ what you're trying to do, then I won't talk to either one of you until you give Ranma an honest chance."

"What? Why?"

"Because even though Ranma is a man, he is my friend and someone who's going to be a big part of my life from now on. I don't want to lose my friendship with you two, but if the price of keeping it is my friendship with him, then I'm afraid that's a toll I will not pay."

Yuka and Sayuri were shocked beyond belief. If the concept wasn't so unbelievable to them, they might have worried Akane was under the influence of some spell or magical object. Fortunately such things had yet to happen in this timeline so the idea was alien to them. And so they had absolutely no way to explain Akane's new behavior.

"Akane, what happened to you? This is not like you." Yuka asked.

"You wouldn't understand. All you need to know is Ranma is a good man and you should give him the chance to prove himself. That's all I'm asking."

Yuka and Sayuri didn't know what to say or think. All they could do was stare dumbly at the two in front of them, unable to piece anything rational together.

Sayuri then did the only thing she felt she could do. "So Ranma, could you tell us a little about yourself?" She then sat down next to Akane to avoid making him uncomfortable, then Yuka followed.

Uncertain about this, Ranma tried telling the two girls about himself without revealing too much.

* * *

By the end of the day, everyone was aware of two things, Akane apparently had a fiancee or boyfriend, and Kuno was going to fight for the right to that role. Kuno wanted to strike sooner, but he had rationalized that a battle of this caliber required the entire school to see so no one could contest the victory he was so certain was already his. Thus he did not attack at lunch when students would be preoccupied.

So at one of the fields everyone gathered around. Kuno stood at one end and Ranma the other, the former looking angered yet enthusiastic while the latter looked bored but unyielding.

"Any last words Saotome?" Kuno asked.

"No, but I think Akane has something she wants to say first." Ranma said, then Akane stepped forward and stood beside him.

"Upperclassman Kuno, let me make one thing perfectly clear to you, even if you somehow defeat Ranma here I have absolutely no intention of dating you. So don't think for one second you will win that out of me."

"But Akane, I'm just trying to defend your honor." Kuno countered, confused.

"Defend it from what? Seriously, what is the danger?" Akane insisted.

Already aware that her normal means of getting a message across would not work on the delusional kendoist, Akane had spent all day trying to come up with alternative means. The only answer she could come up with was to trap him with his own words.

'If there's one thing Kuno likes more than me or female Ranma, it's himself. He can't stand having his image tarnished around school. If I can just make it so no one would respect him anymore, he'll _have_ to stop what he's doing. I just hope it works. If it doesn't, nothing will.'

"Surely this fiend has ill intentions for you and must be kept away." Kuno stated like it was common sense.

"How is what you've done any different? You made a whole group of men physically assault the woman you claim to love each and every morning. Why would you want that if you want to date me?" Akane asked. "You're telling one boy to leave me alone yet this year you told every male in school to try and date me. How on earth does that make sense?"

"He has not earned the right to date you." Kuno declared, pointing his bokken at Ranma.

"And what gives you the right to decide that?" Akane asked. "Seriously, what gives you the right to decide who I can and can't date? You're not my father, you're not my brother, you're not even my ex! You have no say over my private life Kuno. You never have."

"But I'm of noble descent. I'm rich and my family has great influence in town. I'm also the best kendoist in Furinkan High." He rationalized.

Akane shrugged. "So what? When did I say I gave a damn about that?"

"But all women want me."

Akane looked over the student body. "Would ANY woman here who would accept a date from Tatewaki Kuno please raise your hand now."

Not a single hand went up.

Kuno looked around in disbelief at the overwhelming show that the female populous did not consider him God's gift to them. "How... how can this be? Surely everybody knows I'm the best there is."

"The best at being pigheaded that is." Akane commented. "Look around you Kuno, no one here wants you as their boyfriend. Heck, not even the gold-diggers consider you worth their time. You hear that? Even the women who only want a man for his money consider you undateable."

'That's true.' Nabiki thought. 'There's only so much you can take from a person before they're not worth it anymore, even if they're rich.'

Kuno looked angry and pointed his bokken back at Ranma. "You! What have you done to turn the school against me? Are thou a sorcerer?"

Akane didn't know whether to laugh or groan at this. "Kuno, you're seventeen years old. You're saying in front of everyone you not only believe in magic, but the only reason we girls could say no to you is if someone was _making_ us?"

She of course knew magic was real, but aside from Nabiki no one else did and she intended to use that ignorance.

"What other explanation could there be?" Kuno asked, genuinely unable to think of an alternative cause for what he was perceiving.

Fuming, Akane faced the student body again. "Boys of Furinkan, _this_ is the man you choose to follow? This is the man you listened to for dating advice? An egomaniac who can't tell the difference between what's real and what's not? A wannabe samurai whose mind is stuck in the Feudal Era? Why are you following his example?"

The male students looked at each other. Up until now they barely thought about it at all. Most of them didn't know a damn thing about Akane but only participated in the Hentai Horde because they figured if someone made that big a deal about her she must be worth something. The rest were basically lonely boys who got swept up in the crowd and didn't have any better way to get a girl to notice them. Now that they stopped to think about it, they had to wonder why exactly Kuno thought he could issue such a challenge in the first place.

"Surely my peers you know I guide you only to fruition. Akane Tendo is the fairest maiden in school and only the man who proves himself most deserving can be with her. That's how it is in the legends." Kuno defended to the crowd.

"This isn't a legend or a fairy tale Kuno. This is real life and the 21th century." Akane argued. "Maidens these days have the right to choose their own suitors with or without a display being required from them first. And I choose Ranma right here to be the suitor I give my affection to. I personally do not care if you agree with it. Maybe you should start spending time in the real world instead of your own little world in your head."

"C'mon is there going to be a fight or not?" One of the boys shouted out, anticipating some action and disappointed in seeing a debate instead.

Akane crossed her arms. "Attack Ranma Kuno and you'll only prove to myself and everyone else here you're a fool who thinks the world is a fairy tale being written about yourself."

There, she'd done it. She had trapped Kuno in a way where he had only two ways out, as an honorable conceder or a dishonorable fool. All she had to do now was wait for his reaction.

Kuno looked at Akane and Ranma then glanced at his audience. He could see many whispering and giving him displeased looks, but what he couldn't see were signs of support. While Kuno may have been a little out of touch with reality, he wasn't retarded or anything and knew that this was one battle where praise would be hard-earned. Maybe a little too hard earned for too little received. Besides, if Akane considered Ranma acceptable then it was likely he was someone who actually could give Kuno a good challenge.

'Hmm... perhaps I should bide my time for a chance when a spar is mandatory and cannot affect my image. Or perhaps I should learn more about him from Nabiki to see how good he is or if there's something about him to take any potential propaganda off myself.'

With that, Kuno sheathed his bokken. "It appears today is not a good day for any such skirmish. But someday I may have to see the skill of the man who's enough to capture the heart of the fierce tigress that is Akane Tendo." With that, he walked away.

"What a bummer." The boy who shouted for a fight complained as he and the others walked away too.

Akane sighed then smiled. "That went better than I thought. I actually worried he was going to do what he always did."

Ranma nodded. "I'm impressed. You did a good job there."

"Thanks. I hope that stops him for at least a little while, because I don't think he's given up completely. But enough about that, let's go home."

Ranma nodded and started walking with her. "Yeah, Shampoo's probably impatient and ready to come get me."

Akane lost her smile but didn't look angry or hurt. "You like her, don't you?"

"It was nice to have someone my own age to talk to for the past month Akane. Doesn't mean I'm in love with her or anything." The pigtailed young man defended.

"But you _do_ like her, right?" Akane repeated.

Ranma sighed. "As a friend yes. But Akane, I've never had any girlfriend before. I've never had a chance to. I don't know what to do in these situations. Making one girl happy is tough enough for me, so pleasing three girls isn't something I have a clue about."

"I can imagine, and sharing one boy with two other girls is going to be tough too." Akane mentioned. "But I care enough about you to try it."

"Akane, not to be rude, but what exactly did you see that made you want me so much?" The pigtailed martial artist asked.

"We went thru a lot Ranma. Too much to simply list. Some of it good, some of it bad, some of it stuff I'd rather not remember. But thru it all we were together, you helping me and me helping you, even if not perfectly. Dream or not, there's no way that could happen without me warming up to you."

"But that's just it Akane, it was a dream. You can't base your feelings for me on a dream."

Akane shook her head. "Ranma, that was no mere dream. It was a sign, maybe even a warning so I'd know what not to do to you. It was real to me, as real as you are. Even if the things I saw haven't happened yet or never happen at all, I know from them what kind of person you are. I still want to get to know you for real and let you get to know me, but I'm not afraid of what may happen for us."

Ranma had no idea what to say there, so he looked away and kept walking. Akane giggled at his embarrassment and hooked her arm around his. Neither said anything else as they kept walking home.

Neither of them saw Nabiki watching them from behind, making sure to keep her distance as to not be spotted. The downside of course being that she couldn't hear anything they were saying. But she could see Akane smile at Ranma and even lean into him as they walked, looking so much like a real couple right then.

'I just don't get it. What is up with her? She practically changed overnight. I want to say those Chinese women are responsible, but she wanted to be with Ranma before they showed up. Why though? I just hope I see some clue before I have to resort to actually asking, because I doubt Akane's just going to admit it to me.'

* * *

When Ranma and Akane returned to the Tendo dojo, they were not surprised to see Shampoo waiting for them. She was in human form instead of foxgirl form, likely to avoid confusion with the neighbors since she was waiting outside the estate walls.

"Nihao Airen and Dream Girl." She greeted.

"Nihao Shampoo." Ranma greeted back.

Akane looked at him. "You can speak Chinese?"

"Some Mandarin. We taught each other how to speak during our trip here. Made it easier for us, but she learned better than I did." He told her then turned towards the lavender-haired Amazon. "You find a place to stay yet?"

She nodded. "Yes. Great-grandmother find empty building, make nice restaurant. Open maybe two weeks."

"What will you call it? Cat Cafe?" Akane asked.

Shampoo tilted her head. "Why call it that?"

"That's what you called it in my vision. It was even decorated with lucky cat statues."

"Grandmother say maybe fox statues work well since they have much meaning here." Shampoo countered.

"Fox Cafe?" Akane asked. 'Why did I not see this coming? Of course her curse was a factor in naming the restaurant. There's no way the name Cat Cafe could have been just a coincidence.'

Shampoo nodded. "Maybe. No have better idea. Want come by when open? Free meal for husband and sister-wife."

Despite the implication, Ranma smiled. "Sounds good to me."

Akane nodded. "Hey Shampoo, want to come inside for a bit?" 'I need to see how different she is compared to what I remember.'

Shampoo smiled and nodded, then transformed into her fox form and climbed up Ranma, settling on his shoulders.

"What happens to her clothes when she does that?" Akane asked.

"I don't know. I guess that Chinese goddess has something to do with it, like how my pants disappear and reappear when I use the horse part of my curse." At that last part, Ranma didn't sound too pleased.

Akane patted his arm as she led him and his pet fox/Chinese fiancee inside. "That's good. No need to worry about being unclothed at bad times. For the most part at least. And just so you know, I happen to like horses." Ranma looked a bit more relaxed.

"Welcome home you two." Kasumi greeted, then noticed the fox. 'Well, Father never said she was forbidden from visiting, so for now I'll say nothing.' "Would you like anything?"

"I think we're good Kasumi." Akane told her. "We'll be up in my room doing our homework."

The two went upstairs and Kasumi lightly grinned. 'Akane seems so much happier ever since Ranma arrived. Too her mind right off that nasty dream she told me about. I just hope the two don't rush anything. That wouldn't be proper.'

Moments later Nabiki walked in. "Hey Kasumi, you would not believe what Akane did at school today."

"What do you mean?"

"You know that guy that started that crap about her that no one else would do anything about?" Nabiki asked. Kasumi nodded, well aware of Kuno thanks to Akane and Nabiki. "Well today she announced to him and the entire school she was involved with Ranma and made it so Kuno couldn't ignore it so easily. It was like a double whammy to Kuno-baby."

Kasumi looked impressed. "I guess Ranma is better for her than we thought."

"But don't you think this is a bit weird for her?" Nabiki asked.

"It's different, but I don't see how it's bad yet. Besides, it's about time someone went up and told that young man he went too far."

Nabiki nodded. "But still, I'm going to be keeping my eye on those two. If I think Ranma's more trouble than good-"

"Nabiki." Kasumi interjected firmly. "Try to dictate Akane's love life like that and you're no better than Kuno is."

Nabiki's eyes widened. "But I'm just looking out for her."

"Like Kuno thought he was?"

For the first time in a long time if not ever, Kasumi had effectively made Nabiki shut up.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

A few days later in the morning Akane headed downstairs to get breakfast but she passed Ranma on the way down. This was not unusual, but the fact he was carrying bathing supplies was. "Huh? Why are you taking a bath so early?"

Ranma blushed and looked away from her. "I got a bit sweaty last night."

"It wasn't that hot." Akane replied, then her eyes widened a bit. "Wait, did you have a nightmare?"

"...no." Ranma answered, dragging the word out.

"Then what got you so worked up?" Akane pressed, then silently gasped and smirked. "Hey, you weren't having a dirty dream were you?"

"What?" Ranma asked, now looking at her but his face got redder.

"Who was it about and what did you two do?" Akane asked, not the least bit accusing or jealous. Even she was a bit surprised. 'I hope it was me. Then I won't feel so bad about what I do with him in my dreams.'

"I'd rather not answer." He said.

"Alright then, just tell me you were a guy and with a girl."

"Of course I was! What do you take me for Akane?" He almost yelled.

Akane giggled and patted his shoulder. "It's okay Ranma, I was just joking. But if it _was_ me in your dream, I'm not upset. Play your cards right and it might become real someday." She said as she headed away, leaving a still blushing Ranma on the stairs.

'I hope I never piss her off.' The pigtailed young man thought as he continued to the furo, trying not to remember the fantasy he indulged in last night where Akane and Shampoo were naked for him though he couldn't remember everything they did in his completely normal teenage dream.

When he got into the washroom he saw his father in human form washing what was left of his hair. 'Just what I needed to take my mind off of two sexy girls.' "You mind? I need the furo now." Genma paid him no mind, and Ranma grabbed a pail of water to make his father hear him. All he got was a mule ignoring him.

* * *

The Tendo's were eating their breakfast and Soun was reading the paper. "Where are Ranma and Mr. Saotome?" Kasumi asked as she finally sat down to eat herself.

"Genma's busy with his morning wash as far as I know." Soun answered.

"And Ranma needed to clean a little sweat off." Akane added, trying to keep the image of Genma in a washroom out of her mind. 'Think of Ranma washing himself instead.'

"Why would he be sweaty?" Nabiki asked, also aware that the previous night wasn't a hot one.

Akane shrugged. "Must be a boy thing."

After a bit they heard a conflict coming from the halls. "Oh my, something must have gone wrong." Kasumi noted.

"It'll be fine." Akane said, hoping no one would interfere and make the problem worse.

"It sounds like someone's throwing things." Nabiki stated.

Akane sighed. "Fine, I'll go stop it." She got up and headed to the furo room to see a mule and a red-haired girl duking it out in the small room. "Hey you two, cut it out." She told them as she interjected herself between them, hands spread to keep them apart.

Akane gave Genma a no-nonsense look then did the same to Ranma, but she quickly saw she inadvertently placed her hand on Ranma's right breast in her attempt to stop the fight. Ranma herself looked a bit uncomfortable being grabbed. Akane let go. "Sorry about that. Damn, I wish mine were that big." She then walked away before it got weirder.

* * *

After breakfast and the fight ended, Ranma and Akane were walking to Furinkan with Ranma atop the fence as usual.

"Hey Ranma, could you teach me how to walk like that?" Akane asked, as she did find that feat impressive.

"I suppose, but it's not going to be easy." He told her, again not able to look at her.

'It's amazing how much I called him perverted when he's so easily embarrassed. Let's see how much I can do before he stops getting so nervous.' Akane told herself, amused and strangely bold. "You still shy about earlier? Don't be, it was my fault. Would it make you feel better if you touched mine?"

Ranma lost his balance and fell into the canal, turning into a girl right away.

"Ranma!" Akane called out, looking thru the chain link fence. 'Oh Kami, how did he ever get out of the canal? My vision never showed me that part.'

"I'm okay Akane, just really wet." Ranma shouted then looked around. He saw a ledge on the side of the canal likely using for workers to have access. "I'll be up in a sec."

Akane had to cross a bridge since Ranma was getting out on the other side of the canal, and by the time she got there Ranma was almost out herself. Akane extended her hand which Ranma took and she pulled her now female fiancee back onto the street. "Sorry about that. I didn't think you'd react like that."

"Uhh... I'm okay, I was just surprised." Ranma replied, trying to shake off most of the water on her.

Akane handed her a towel, glad she was getting into this habit. "Y'know, my offer still stands. If you want to touch mine, just ask." She blushed greatly and looked quite coy and innocent, but she meant what she said.

"Akane, you're not going to become... easy are you?" Ranma asked. "I've heard that only easy girls make offers like that."

"Ranma, the offer is for you and only you. No other boy will get his hands on me if I have anything to say about it. But you on the other hand are someone I don't mind being touched by. Be it a simple hug or hold, or even something perverted, if it's from you I will enjoy it. After all, I love you and want you to love me."

Ranma was about to say something but Akane placed her finger on the gender bender's lips. "However, there are two things I want you to know about this offer. When we're in public or around others, only touch me in socially acceptable ways, and if I ask you not to please respect my wishes. And while we're alone you have my permission to touch me however and wherever you want, BUT..." She paused to take a breath. 'C'mon Akane, you've gone this far, go for the finish.' "Touching is all you can do to my body for now. Touching is okay for my fiancee, but only my husband can have my virginity."

Ranma just stood there and dropped the towel. "You serious Akane?"

The youngest Tendo nodded, looking a bit embarrassed but not regretful. "Yes Ranma, I am. I know it sounds weird, but this is something I want to try. I don't want to act like touching you is going to give me some sort of disease, and I don't want you acting like I'm going to be mad if you desire me. I want to be desired by you, and if this helps you feel safe around me I'll do it."

Unsure what to say, Ranma just finished drying up. "We should get going or we're going to be late."

Akane quickly looked at her watch. "Oh wow you're right. We better hightail it right away." Then she got an idea. "Say Ranma..."

* * *

At Furinkans' gates, there were probably a dozen members of the Hentai Horde waiting. Thanks to Akane, most of the group lost their enthusiasm and decided to save what little dignity they had left. Only a few remained, too dedicated to obtaining their goal to give in this easily.

One of them wearing a standard gi looked down the street and saw something approaching. "There she is."

"Wait, something's not right." One other member dressed as a boxer said, squinting to see better. "Is she on a horse?"

Akane jumped off the horse which appeared to get smaller until a human shape could be seen even if no one could see who it was. When the change finished, Akane landed on her feet and ran right beside her former ride, which now could be seen clearly as Ranma Saotome.

"What was that? Some sort of magic trick?"

"Must have been a trick of the light. Doesn't matter, she's here and we must prove our strength to her." The gi-wearer told the small group.

Ranma and Akane came up closer, side by side running in unison. "You wanna help me on this one Ranma? They might stop altogether if you do?"

"If you say so Akane." He replied.

The crowd tried to swarm her as usual, but rather than stop to fight them all off, Akane chose to plow right thru them like a train, swinging her book bag to smack them away with Ranma right next to her providing some help by punching and sweep-kicking.

From her homeroom Nabiki watched the two with interest. Especially when Kuno decided to join in just when they got close to entering the building.

"Akane Tendo I challenge you!" He proclaimed.

'Guess Kuno-baby can't learn his lesson.' Nabiki mused.

"That jerk." Akane said. "What do I have to do to get the message thru his thick head?"

"How about the direct approach?" Ranma suggested before jumping forward.

Akane immediately got the hint and jumped too. Both performed a jump-kick right to Kuno's cranium, knocking him on his back allowing them to proceed inside and get to class.

Nabiki looked a bit disappointed. "Kuno falls again."

* * *

Later on Nabiki was the one who had to check on a downed Kuno on a bed in the nurse's office. "You're so pathetic. Did you hear anything she told you earlier this week?" The middle Tendo asked as she wrung out a damp rag. Just as she was about to place it on his head, Kuno sprung up, but he looked dazed.

"Ah my darling Akane, I will prove my worth to you." He said quietly, his arms outreaching, before falling back and closing his eyes again.

Nabiki curiously looked closer, seeing he was passed out again. "Still stuck on my sister."

Kuno sprang upwards again. "Accept my love for you Akane Tendo." Then he passed back out.

"I wonder what Dr. Seuss thinks of the world you live in Kuno-baby." The mercenary girl commented.

Kuno sprang upwards yet again but this time he faced Nabiki in a daze and grabbed her hands. "Please Akane go on a date with me."

Having quite enough of this, Nabiki grabbed the wash tub and hit him over the head with it. "Are you awake now?"

"That hurt Nabiki." Kuno told her, arms crossed but the tub still atop his scalp.

"Don't you remember what my sister told you just days ago Kuno? She said she doesn't want you." Nabiki reminded him.

"Only because I have not proved myself to her yet." The kendoist stated. "I was mistaken in my means but not my intentions. Tell me, what did Saotome do to impress her?"

"I wish I knew." Nabiki told him.

* * *

Back home Nabiki came and saw her father and a mule playing shogi, though how Genma could play with hooves was beyond her, and Kasumi was vacuuming the adjacent room. "I'm home. Where's Ranma?"

"He went straight to his room." Kasumi answered.

Akane came down dressed in her gi. "Hi Nabiki. You looking for Ranma?"

"Just want to ask him something."

Akane nodded. "Ok, but don't even think of taking pictures of his girl side to sell." Without waiting for a response, she went outside.

Confused, Nabiki followed her younger sister. "What made you think I'd do that?"

Akane picked up a barbell in each hand and did a small exercise of raising one over her head at a time. "Oh I don't know, how about the fact you've sold pictures of me before."

"Photography's my hobby Akane. Sometimes people like what I come up with and want a copy for themselves. What's the harm? It's just a picture."

"Tell me that after you sell some pictures of yourself." Akane added. "But tell ya what, I'll agree to ignore the next few times you sell pictures of me if you do me a favor."

"What kind of favor?" Nabiki asked. Before Akane could answer though, an arrow embedded itself in one of the wooden posts of the house close to Nabiki, surprising the girl.

"Who shot that? That could have hit you." Akane stated, aghast at this action enough to stop her exercise.

Nabiki noted the paper wrapped around the arrow. "It's a letter." She took it off, opened it, and started to read.

"Who's it from?" Akane asked, her dream unable to answer it for her.

"Here you go." Nabiki handed the letter to her sister after she finished.

"Dear Nabiki Tendo, lo, it is spring! What glories lie in store?" Akane paraphrased. "Oh this can't be anybody but Kuno." She complained, then went back to reading. "Anyway, please come to Cafe Toramaru tomorrow at noon. It's in the shopping center in front of the station. Signed, Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen." Akane finished. "Now why would he mention his age? Or ask you to meet him somewhere away from school?"

"I have no idea." Nabiki answered.

Akane noticed her sister didn't look that bothered by this. "Are you actually going to go Nabiki?"

Nabiki nodded.

* * *

The next day at the appointed time and place, Nabiki entered a cafe and looked around. It was easy to find her classmate given the fact he was still wearing his blue and black haori and hakama, while she and everyone else was wearing normal clothes. To be precise she was wearing a red-and-white horizontally striped t-shirt and blue jeans, the sort of outfit she preferred.

Kuno took notice of her entry and invited her over to his table. She sat down and saw a plate with some tea on it, a red jar, some pickles and a set of chopsticks. She opened the red jar to see hot sweet bean soup. "So what's this all about? Why are you treating me to shiruko Kuno-baby?" She asked, trying to ignore the blonde doll in his arms while breaking apart her chopsticks.

"The truth is I have a boon to beg of you." He started as she sampled her treat. "Lest you think to mock me, kindly consider the cost to my pride." She looked at him for a moment before slurping some of the broth. "Do not take me lightly in this."

"Aren't _we_ all high and mighty." Nabiki replied. "If you want something, hurry up and ask me. Time is money."

"Very well, I shall show it to you." Kuno told her, then held out the child's doll. "This is it."

Nabiki just looked at it critically. "And what is this?"

"It's a cute doll." He answered.

"I can see that. I mean, what is it for?"

"It's a present."

Nabiki waved it off. "No thanks. Not my type."

"Who said it was a present for you?" Kuno asked. "This is for Akane."

"What makes you think this is going to make her want you?" Nabiki asked.

"Am I wrong in my understanding that women like it when men give them gifts?" Kuno asked back.

"No, but you're wrong in thinking you can buy a date out of my sister like that. And even if it worked, she wouldn't be impressed that you gave it to her thru me. Did you suddenly turn shy Kuno-baby?"

"No, but I'm trying alternative means to appeal to her."

Nabiki smirked, crossed her legs and rested her head on her right hand. "And I'm guessing you want me to tell you the best way to do so in case this way didn't work." She giggled a moment. "Y'know, for some reason my sister is quite enthralled by Ranma, and I'm still not sure why. But I can tell you that if you want her to like you, you're first going to have to undo all the damage you've already done."

Kuno thought this over. "So you're saying that in order to win Akane's affections, I must first find a way to make her not want to give them to Saotome instead?"

Nabiki looked irritated. "What part of what I said sounded like that?"

"In any case, could you please give this to her as a token of my affections?" Kuno asked, holding out the doll again.

Nabiki took it. "I suppose so, but don't expect her to run into your arms. By the way, I've got some pictures of her, want to see them?"

His interest peaked, Kuno couldn't resist. "I suppose."

"Buy me some spaghetti first then you'll get to see them." Nabiki added.

Not wanting to, but unable to resist the urge, Kuno had to take her to an Italian restaurant since the cafe didn't serve Nabiki's desired meal.

As she ate, she showed Kuno the photos of Akane working out. "Standard price, 1000 yen per picture."

"Hold on, I've already bought you lunch." Kuno objected.

"That was to see the pictures. This price is to keep them." Nabiki said, enjoying her game with him.

Kuno looked over five pictures of Akane showing off her martial arts skills. "She's so fierce, but 1000 yen per picture is a bit much Nabiki."

"Don't want them then?"

He handed her a 5000 yen bill. "No I'll take them all, but it's still expensive."

"Don't be so fickle. Maybe I won't show you the other girl I found. One you've never seen before or any girl like her, I guarantee."

"If I have to pay to see then no thanks." Kuno told the mercenary.

"I guess I'll be generous on that then." Nabiki told the kendoist before pulling out the few pics she got of female Ranma without Akane there to stop her. No centaur pics though, no need to get weird yet.

Kuno was speechless, after all red hair on a Japanese girl is quite exotic. "Who is she?"

"Just an acquaintance of the family who comes and goes all the time." Nabiki answered discreetly.

"How... defenseless she is." He stated, seeing the redhead sleep in two of them without care and in one in the process of removing her white tank top.

"Completely shameless, isn't she? You'd almost think she was really a boy." Nabiki asked, enjoying the hidden joke here.

"Can I see the real her?" Kuno asked.

Nabiki had to swallow her bite of spaghetti before answering. "Why? You're interested in Akane after all. You don't plan to woo this girl too are you?"

"Why not? Akane's a strong lovely maiden and if this girl is as grand as her then is it so wrong to desire them both?" Kuno asked in complete seriousness.

"Gee, let me think about it, yes!" Nabiki told him. "Kuno, I tolerate what you do to my sister because she can handle it on her own. And I can tolerate you fantasizing about this new girl since I know you've got no chance with her and I think it would be funny to see. However, thinking you can have both of them is wrong. Relationships are meant to be monogamous." 'Regardless of what that old woman said.' She added to herself.

"But both have so much appeal I cannot be expected to choose." Kuno justified.

"You haven't even met one of them and you're like this?" Nabiki asked, then she sighed. "Forget it, I can see nothing I say will stop you. So let me just tell you one thing Kuno-baby, the redhead isn't your type. Thanks for the food." She said before walking off, doll in hand.

'I bet that will drive Kuno mad with desire and he'll hit on girl-Ranma right away. Oh I hope I'm there to see it, that will be so fun to watch.' She told herself, then considered the doll. 'I doubt Akane would really want this. Might as well get rid of it.'

Luckily she found a charitable donation center to drop it off at so she didn't have to throw it away.

* * *

The next time they were at school Nabiki was looking out a window waiting for Ranma to come by. 'Great, he's alone.'

'What does the guy want now?' Ranma asked himself, remembering that Nabiki told him Kuno wanted to say something at this exact location. 'I don't see-' His thoughts stopped when some water spilled on him from above, turning him into a girl.

Nabiki chuckled and momentarily hid so Ranma wouldn't see her. 'If I remember correctly he can't change back until he dries off.'

"Just great." Ranma muttered as she tried to dry herself off.

At that moment, Kuno walked around a corner and gasped. "It is as Nabiki said, you've arrived to meet me."

"Huh?" Ranma asked.

"Fair youthful pigtailed girl, pray tell me thy name so I can properly woo thou?" Kuno pleaded.

Nabiki now looked outside, certain that Ranma was too occupied to look up now. 'This should be amusing.'

Ranma looked disgusted and a bit afraid. "Get away from me!"

"Don't be shy. I mean you only the best."

She hit him in the face. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"You must be like Akane and require a demonstration in order to accept my advances. Tell me what I can do."

Ranma got an idea, a crazy one but it just might work. "First, could you take a step back?"

Kuno did so even though he didn't understand why. "Like this?"

Ranma nodded. "Now, I heard you called Ranma Saotome a sorcerer. Ya wanna see something even more unusual?"

Kuno looked confused. "Such as?"

Ranma smirked and started to change. She couldn't become a male again while covered in cold water, but she could use her curse in the other direction. With no effort she turned into a female centaur and bucked up like a braying horse to prove the change was no illusion. Kuno was stunned in disbelief, and a tap from a hoof destroyed any skepticism he had about what he saw.

"What do you think of this? A shape-shifter?" Ranma asked.

'Ooh, how's Kuno-baby going to react to this?' Nabiki asked herself, leaning in closer but not enough to fall out the window. At the same time, Akane who just arrived was watching from behind a tree.

The captain of the kendo team was shuddering and backing away. "Thou are no damsel, thou are a demoness instead. Get away from me vile creature." He brought out his bokken but still looked afraid.

'It's working.' Ranma thought happily. "Leave Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo alone, and I'll leave you alone. Or else I'll come back and do much worse to you."

Rather than say more, Kuno carefully walked away, making sure never to drop his guard to the centaur.

"Good, he's gone." Ranma said, shifting back to his human female form.

"Ranma." Akane said as she walked up to her fiancee. "What were you thinking? What if he tells someone?"

"Who's going to believe him Akane? A girl he was hitting on suddenly turned into a half-horse? Is there anyone here who'd believe that?"

"Good point." Akane replied, and Nabiki nodded to herself. "Well, at least this time Kuno won't hound you like he did in my dream. There he pursued you as much as he did me if not more."

"And he never knew I am a boy?"

Akane shook her head. "Never. Even his lunatic father learned but Kuno and his sister remained clueless. It's crazy. Oh, his sister got fond of your male side so you better watch out for her too."

Ranma groaned. "That's just great."

Nabiki, still unnoticed by the two, was confused by what she heard from them. 'Wait, Akane's words make no sense. How could she know Kuno has a sister? I didn't even know that. And what does she mean his father learned about Ranma's curse or his sister likes Ranma? Nothing like that has happened.'

Nabiki asked herself that the rest of the day, and by the time she was ready for bed, she had had enough.

'Forget it, I'm not going to figure this out with what little I know. I've just got to keep an eye and ear on them until I learn more. Because right now, the only explanation I can draw is Akane knows the future and that's impossible... right?'


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Oh man." Ranma moaned as he dropped his book bag and took a seat by the dining room table. He saw a bag of potato chips Kasumi left behind and tore into them for a moment, eating mostly in frustration. Until he started choking that is. Luckily he gagged the obstruction away before he required the Heimlich Maneuver. After catching his breath, Ranma guzzled some tea too, and threw the bag away as if he was throwing away the source of his ire.

At this point, Akane walked in from behind. "Rough day wasn't it?"

"You were there. You saw what that clown did."

"Hello Akane, hello Ranma." Kasumi greeted as she came by. Then she noticed their ill looks. "Did something unpleasant happen?"

"You could say that." Akane replied. "That guy Kuno went on a huge rant in school about how Ranma was some sort of demon summoner who made a horse demon try to kill him yesterday." Ranma groaned remembering that. "Of course no one believed him, but the guy just refused to let it drop."

"He tried attacking me between every break and even before and after school. He might even show up here too any moment. It's like he's desperate to prove himself right." Ranma commented.

Akane knelt down and hugged him from behind, making the boy tense for a moment but quickly relax. "It'll be fine. If he does I'll help you Ranma."

Kasumi smiled at the scene. 'Maybe they are good together. Akane clearly knew what she was doing.'

"RANMA SAOTOME!" An uninvited voice boomed out, hearable even from the back of the house.

Akane and Ranma groaned in annoyance. "Speak of the devil."

"Can we pretend we're not here?" Ranma asked.

"I would if I could, but I swear he must be able to smell me when I'm nearby." Akane answered.

"Want me to ask him to leave?" Kasumi politely asked.

'No one can tell her no.' Akane thought, but then shook her head. "Thanks sis, but we should handle this ourselves first."

With reluctance, the young couple got up and went to the front yard, where Kuno was waiting for them bokken out as expected.

"Ranma Saotome, I demand you leave Akane Tendo alone and never return to Nerima." He declared.

Ranma just crossed his arms. "Or you'll what?"

"Or I will have no choice but to slay you and any demon you can summon." The kendoist answered.

Akane got mad and stepped forward. "Kuno, by 'slay' do you mean you intend to _kill_ Ranma?"

"Removing his kind from the world is a service to mankind." The upperclassman replied.

Ranma looked surprised and a bit insulted, but Akane looked appalled. 'How horrible. Is he speaking out of anger or does he really mean that?' Akane straightened herself. "Kuno, you strike my fiancee and I swear _you_ will be the one removed from this world."

"I'm doing this for you Akane. He is a practitioner of the dark arts and has a demon under his beck and call."

"And what gives you that idea?" The young Tendo questioned.

"A horse demon came to me warning me of his intentions. What more proof do I need?" Kuno answered.

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Ranma asked, playing ignorant.

"I have no intention of listening to the likes of you. How else would you have been able to turn Akane's heart from me?"

"For the love of Kami-sama, I NEVER LOVED YOU! I HATE YOU!" Akane screamed. "WHAT GAVE YOU THE DAMN IDEA I EVER DID LOVE YOU?"

"Do you not remember my fierce tigress the day you attempted to join the kendo club?" Kuno asked.

Akane briefly struggled to recall that event. "Yeah, I asked but you said it was for men only because girls like me would only get hurt."

"And you challenged me to prove me wrong, and prove me wrong you indeed did." Kuno continued. "Since then you have fascinated me since you are the only one who has beaten me and with you being a woman that must be proof you are the one destined to be mine."

"All that proves is you can be beaten by someone you don't take seriously." Akane retorted, then gasped. "Wait, is THAT why you started the whole morning assault thing? You wanted to see who could beat me?"

"How else was I supposed to learn how strong you are and how strong I needed to become to prove myself worthy of such a woman again?"

Akane glared and Ranma frowned, neither liking what he was basically admitting to them. "Kuno," Ranma started. "All I'm hearing is the reason you like her, not the reason you think she likes you. Tell us right now why you think a girl that just screamed she hates you actually loves you."

"Silence demon caller. You have no business here."

"Maybe I should summon a demon if that's what it'll take to get rid of you." The pigtailed young man said sarcastically.

Proving Fate has a sense of humor, something actually did appear that moment.

"Nihao Airen, Dream girl." Shampoo greeted as she suddenly appeared by jumping over the wall around the Tendo estate. When she arrived she was in fox-girl form.

Kuno saw the new girl and looked petrified. "A... a kitsune youkai? Aha! Saotome _must_ be a demon master! Now do you believe me Akane?"

Shampoo looked confused and turned to her only Japanese friends. "What he talk about?"

"He's insane." The young Tendo told the Amazon, then got a good idea. "Shampoo," She whispered. "Play along with what I'm going to say please. It'll help Ranma." The fox girl looked confused but nodded.

"You must come with me Akane. I will save you from the clutches of this heathen." Kuno declared.

Akane smrked and crossed her arms. "Oh, you're sorely mistaken Kuno. You see, this kitsune youkai just so happens to be loyal to me too, not just Ranma. If I asked her to scar up your pretty little face to the point your mother wouldn't recognize you, she'd do it no questions asked. Ranma summons his demons for me, not against me."

Both Ranma and Shampoo were a bit surprised to hear this from her, but Kuno was too surprised himself to notice. "Su... Surely you can't be serious."

"Oh no? You want proof? Shampoo, attack."

The fox girl remembered the request and nodded, then darted forward like a blur and kicked Kuno right in the underside of his jaw. Kuno had anticipated the attack early enough to position himself so the attack merely stunned him rather than greatly hurt him. After that he straightened himself and swung his sword hoping to cleave what he thought was a kitsune youkai.

Close enough to dodge, Shampoo ducked under the wooden sword then grabbed it and swung herself over it to kick the top of his head. Now dazed, Kuno tried to strike her directly, but she batted the weapon aside then headbutted Kuno in the chest.

While this was going on, Akane leaned to Ranma. "Ranma, Amazon law won't affect Shampoo if she for some reason loses here right?"

"Right. The whole 'beaten by foreign male' only applies to one male, so until any bond between me and her is dissolved, no other male can have claim to her. Why, you think she can lose here?"

Akane shook her head. "No not at all, just double-checking."

Back in the fight, Kuno was getting mad he wasn't able to hit the Chinese girl. "You will not defeat me demon!" He used an elbow thrust to make her back off, then followed with a bokken strike that got her right side.

Ranma saw blood at that. "Shampoo!" He shouted and before Akane could intervene he rushed forward.

Kuno saw this and looked no more relieved then he had been before. "If I eliminate the summoner then the demon can't be in this world any longer." He then striked multiple times with his bokken, often missing but causing some blunt trauma to the points he did hit on Ranma, along with the air pressure adding some more.

The result was Ranma flying backwards and landing on his back with his head between Akane's feet.

Ignoring the sense of deja vu, Akane looked down. "Ranma, Kuno might be delusional, but his skills are genuine. He's captain of the kendo club for a reason after all. You should know when he doesn't underestimate his opponent he can cause some serious damage."

Ranma blinked but blushed. "Uhh... thanks. And you should know that polka dot panties don't really suit you."

Now recognizing the deja vu, and blushing up a storm, Akane avoided kicking Ranma away and instead covered herself with her hands over her dress and stepped back. "All the rest are in the wash. Now go get Kuno."

Ranma got back on his feet and charged, trying to get that image out of his mind. Shampoo was on her knees clutching her wound but overall fine as far as he could see. What he didn't see was the purple-haired girl give Akane a brief glance as if asking her something silently, but of course he had something more urgent on his mind.

Kuno tried to perform his own version of the amaguriken again, but this time Ranma was prepared. Like Shampoo he grabbed the bokken and jumped up to deliver a kick, this time to Kuno's sternum making him stumble back. Ranma landed and noticed something fall out of Kuno's pockets.

Akane saw that and was surprised, and a bit surprised that she was surprised. 'He brought those with him? This guy is one bad advance away from requiring a restraining order.'

Unable to see the dropped square piece, Ranma had to block another attempted attack from his new rival. Again it was a barrage of bokken strikes coming at him with incredible speed. Ranma dodged by going backwards rather than to the sides. 'He can't keep this speed up forever, so he's going to have to be defenseless once this stops.' Once the attack did cease Kuno had to bring his sword up for a different approach, but Ranma did a quick handstand and attacked with his left leg in what appeared to be a mere grazing arc kick. But Akane and Shampoo both saw what it really was, many kicks hitting him all over his frontside in an upward direction.

When it ended Kuno froze and Ranma backflipped to get back on his feet. He didn't attack more, but he kept up his guard in case Kuno was more resiliant than he looked. Akane watched with baited breath, hoping this went as she expected it to.

She was glad to see it did, for Kuno fell over on his face. She smiled and came up beside Ranma and hugged him. "Good job Ranma. Never a doubt in my mind."

Meanwhile Shampoo turned Kuno on his back to inspect the damage out of curiosity. He was covered in footprints. "Aiyah, all hit vital points. Airen marvelous." She also picked up the dropped photograph. "What this?"

Akane came and snatched it. 'Nabiki better not have given him pictures of Ranma's female form.' Instead of Ranma, they were pictures of Akane working out in her yellow gi.

"Why he have these?" Shampoo asked.

"He's a loon that's why." Akane replied, then noticed the blood on Shampoo's right side. "Oh my gosh, you're bleeding pretty badly."

"Is okay, just bandage and it heal." Shampoo objected, but her expression showed she was masking a lot of pain and her hand was pressed pretty hard onto the wound.

"Not okay. You should see a doctor." Akane argued. "Ranma, help me get her to see someone."

Ranma nodded. "Shampoo, follow us, and human form." The Amazon nodded then lost her fox traits.

"You hurt at all Ranma?" Akane asked.

"Nah, it was nuthin." The pigtailed young man said, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Oh really?" Akane asked before poking one of his ribs. Ranma winced and spasmed but repressed any cry of pain. "I knew it, he got you at least once. Please don't lie to me about this again Ranma."

"I've handled worse." He insisted.

"Fine, but you two please follow me." The youngest Tendo said before heading out, her two companions following.

"What about foolish boy?" Shampoo asked.

"Someone will make him leave when he wakes up." Akane suggested.

* * *

After a short walk they reached a point halfway between the Tendo estate and Furinkan High. It was a quaint building with nothing special about it, but like the Tendo dojo had a wall surrounding it. There was a sign that read 'Acupuncture and Moxibustion', and another that read 'Acupressure', but no name was on the wall.

Akane looked back at the two with her. Ranma was fine but Shampoo was much more worn out from moving with her injury, and she was leaning onto Ranma for support which he kindly offered. Part of her was jealous, Akane knew that, but she avoided doing anything about it for the sake of getting Shampoo some needed treatment. So she knocked on the door and in a matter of moments Tofu greeted her.

"Why hello there Akane. You haven't been by recently." The chiropractic said politely.

Akane nodded then stepped aside. "Dr. Tofu, this girl needs your help." Ranma brought her forward to give the doctor a better look.

"Oh my, that looks like a nasty wound. Come in and lay down." He moved to let the three teenagers enter.

Once inside Shampoo was placed on a patients bed and Tofu got started wrapping her injury with gauze while cleaning the wound and disinfecting it. The whole time Akane and Ranma sat in visitor chairs watching, Ranma looking concerned while Akane just kept her eyes closed.

While part of the reason Akane hadn't been by the clinic was because of her lack of need for it, the main reason was her fear of what she'd do when it happened. Thanks to her vision, she had pretty much fallen in love with Ranma overnight, but she feared her young schoolgirl affection for Tofu hadn't been eliminated because of it.

"So who is this guy?" Ranma whispered.

Akane opened her eyes and made herself look at the good doctor. Her heartbeat wasn't increasing and she didn't find herself feeling shy now, so for now she had nothing to worry about. "He's Tofu Ono, my family's medical provider for as long as I can remember. He always treated my injuries when Kasumi or Dad wasn't able to. He's probably the only man besides my dad I've always trusted."

"Ah." Ranma simply responded with.

"Uh oh." Tofu said, drawing their attentions for a moment. "She's got a few splinters in the wound. This might take me a moment longer to treat properly." He then proceeded to remove the wooden obstructions, his back still to Akane and Ranma.

Sensing his sudden discomfort at her last remark, she placed her hand on top his. "Ranma, I trust you. The only difference between you and Tofu is I've known him longer, dream included. Even so, you're the one I want as my fiancee, not him. Even if... you prefer Shampoo over me."

"Why you say that?" Ranma asked, still whispering.

"I'm... a bit jealous of Shampoo. After all, she's got a better body with an exotic appeal I could never compete with, she's a great cook and I'd probably make cold cereal taste like crap, and she's a better martial artist than me. I'm worried that even if you do settle down with all three of us, you'll favor her over me."

"I don't intend on playing favorites with any of you." He told her. "I'm not even sure I intend to take three wives."

Akane looked at him. "Why not? Isn't that the kind of things guys dream of?"

Ranma shook his head. "When guys do dream of having multiple girls, it's never them as wives Akane. A guy would make them sex slaves, cooks, maids, but never wives. The rest a guy could simply use, but a wife requires being taken care of and cooperating with. The way I see it, a guy who wants many girls would see them as possessions, not people, and I don't wanna become that type of person."

Akane did not know how to respond, but she felt her respect for Ranma increase. "Then... why did you let Shampoo follow you here? Why not refuse Cologne's insistence you take three brides?"

"I have refused, but she keeps saying her gods demand it and won't listen. And Shampoo followed me the whole way. And to be honest, now I'm kinda glad she did. Her and the old ghoul showed me Pops was wrong, women can be strong martial artists if they want to be, most just don't wanna be that. Makes me feel better about having this curse, and with Shampoo I didn't feel so alone."

Akane surprised him by leaning against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I admit I don't like this situation either. I never planned on sharing you with the girls who tried to take you away from me. If it were up to me I'd try marrying you tomorrow and tell the others to get lost."

"We aren't ready for that." Ranma reminded.

"I know but compared to the alternative it's the better choice." Akane replied. "But in any case Ranma, I did have that vision for a reason. I know it's hard to believe or accept, but... maybe Cologne is right. Maybe you should be allowed to have three girls care about you instead of being forced to choose just one."

Before more could be said, Tofu walked up to them. "I've taken care of the wound and alleviated most of her pain. She should be fine but no strenuous activity until two days after the wound is closed."

"Thank you Dr. Tofu." Akane said. "Oh, this is Ranma Saotome, he's staying with my family for a while."

"Nice to meet you Ranma. You a martial artist too?"

"Yep, and one of the best there is."

The doctor simply smiled. "Well if you ever get hurt come here and I'll see what I can do. My advice though is don't overestimate yourself. You're never so good that you're invincible."

"Airen good, best Shampoo ever see." Shampoo noted as she walked up to her fiancee and leaned on him for support.

Akane ignored this by bowing to Tofu. "We should get going. I'll have Nabiki drop by with the payment."

"Thanks, and be careful you three." He said as they left. 'Sounds like something complicated is going on between them all. I hope things work out for them.'

* * *

Walking back to the dojo Shampoo turned into her fox form for convenience and rode atop Ranma's head. About a block away from Tofu's clinic, Akane stopped. "Ranma, would it be alright with you if I had some girl talk with Shampoo in private for a bit?"

The boy was surprised but thought it over. Before he could say anything, Shampoo landed on the sidewalk, winced from the landing, and returned to her human form. "What Dream Girl want say?"

"I take it that means yes, so I'll go. See ya later Akane, Shampoo." Ranma said before continuing on.

Akane waited until he was outside earshot to speak. "Shampoo, I'm going to be frank, I want to be with Ranma. This has nothing to do with the family agreement or any prophecy, I want to be his wife someday. If that happens, no, _when_ that happens, can you accept that?"

Shampoo's human form was in no way affected by the behavioral aspects of her curse, so this was as honest an answer as she could give. "Shampoo want Ranma too. He good man, good spar partner, and he save Shampoo from woman's worst fear. He best man I ever see and Shampoo no give him up without fight. Like you, Shampoo prefer no share, but not my choice. Goddess decried it. Airen take three brides, and if they good to him I swallow pride and accept."

"I'm kind of the same way. So before we start a pissing contest, we should decide some kind of cooperation system between us." Akane said.

The Tendo heir still didn't like this, but for Ranma's sake she had to make an effort. In her vision virtually all problems were created because of everyone's refusal to compromise or negotiate. It was all 'My way or the highway' with everyone, with Ranma being the one expected to put in the effort to give everyone what they wanted. Such a thing is naturally impossible, like the old saying goes 'Try to please everyone and you end up pleasing no one', but no one cared, not even her. Like the rest, Akane in the dream developed a 'Ignore the others and give me what I want' mentality towards Ranma, and she now wasn't proud of it.

"What you have in mind?" Shampoo asked.

"For one, neither of us should act like we're the only one with a claim to him. I'll let you spend time with him as long as you let me spend time with him too, no hogging him only for ourselves." Akane stated.

"Sound fair."

"We also shouldn't compete with each other. If Ranma's going to end up with both of us we shouldn't try to make him favor one over the other."

Shampoo nodded in acceptance. "Who get him first in bed?"

Akane could not answer that one. "I don't know. Let's not worry about that until we're ready to do that."

"What if Shampoo ready now?"

"Are you?" Akane asked, testing if it was a bluff or not.

The Amazon shrugged. "Wouldn't say no if asked."

'Me too.' Akane quickly thought, then caught herself. 'Wait, no I would. Or maybe I wouldn't. Well... I guess I wouldn't say no, but I wouldn't say yes this soon either. I'd ask Ranma to wait a bit longer for me.'

"Dream Girl?" Shampoo asked, noticing the conflicting emotions storm the Japanese girl's face.

"Please call me Akane, not Dream Girl. I should probably help you learn Japanese better if you're going to be here for a while."

"That good."

"And maybe you could help me learn how to cook. I need a lot of help there." Akane added. 'It's a long shot but it's worth trying.'

"No problem. Anything else?"

Akane thought about it then shook her head. "No, nothing I can think about now. Why don't you come over for dinner tonight?" 'If she's going to be a permanent part of my future life then I might as well try to be her friend.'

Shampoo smiled. "Shampoo like that."

The two headed to the Tendo residence, calming chatting about random things but mostly Ranma. When they got there they saw him standing outside. Akane smirked. "Why Ranma, were you waiting for us?"

"Umm... uh..." He bashfully replied, scratching the back of his head.

Both girls giggled and surprised both him and each other by simultaneously kissing his cheeks. "Thank you." Akane quietly added.

Shampoo stepped back and surprised them even further by lifting up the front of her cheongsam dress to reveal her underwear, which was the same shade red as Ranma's shirt.

"Sha-Shampoo?" The aforementioned boy said, getting very flustered.

Shampoo giggled and covered herself again. "Better than polka dot, no?"

Akane blushed deeper. "You heard that?"

Shampoo turned into her fox-girl form then pointed to her ears. "No just for show."

Akane shook her head to reorient herself. "Enough of that. Why don't we go up to my room for a group chat?" Shampoo nodded but Ranma still looked flustered, like he didn't want to be in this situation. 'Hopefully Ranma you'll learn to feel comfortable around girls.'


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Akane, Ranma, and fox-girl Shampoo were all up in Akane's room. Akane sat down on her bed with Ranma on the floor and Shampoo sitting at the desk.

"Ranma, Shampoo and I were just talking, and we feel we all need to get a few things confirmed between the three of us." Akane started. "I know from my vision that our fathers are not going to stop trying to get us married, and Shampoo's grandmother won't stop either. Since no one's going to stop until a result is made, we might as well figure out how to survive the storm."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to wait until the third girl shows up?" Ranma asked.

"Whatever we come up with here will apply to her too, and accomodations will be made if something is different about her for some reason. But think of it this way, when Ukyo shows up, we'll have to explain to her this unusual situation and she's likely going to need a lot of convincing to be a part of it. If we can make this work before then, then it should be easier to get her to cooperate."

"Do we really even want this?" Ranma asked.

"What you mean?" Shampoo asked.

"I mean is this really something we want to even try? It just sounds too absurd."

"More absurd than instant sex change just add water?" Akane asked. "And would you prefer the alternative where me, Shampoo, and Ukyo fight over you like a piece of meat without even caring what you think?"

"But a harem is crazy. No one in Japan has harems these days." Ranma countered.

Akane nodded. "True, but mistresses are not uncommon. We could avoid the legal issue by saying legally two of us are just mistresses but as far we're concerned we're all wives."

"Who gets to be the legal wife then?" Ranma asked.

"Shampoo is by Chinese law." The purple-haired Amazon noted.

"I think he means Japanese law, which wouldn't recognize your marriage as official yet." Akane pointed.

"Why not?" Shampoo asked.

"Marriage works differently here. Unless it's documented and appraised the government doesn't recognize it as real. So unless someone in China gave you an actual marriage license and certificate, here it's just a claim to him no different than my own."

Shampoo looked crestfallen at that. "So... Shampoo just suitor then? No wife yet?"

Suddenly Akane's heart ached for the girl. 'She really wants to be with Ranma. This isn't just about some Amazon tradition or expectation, she really does want him in her life.'

When it came to Shampoo in Akane's vision, it was easy to think of the Chinese girl as having all the wrong reasons for what she did. It was easy to assume that she was only pursuing him because of some stone age law and any interest beyond that was likely shallow and a refusal to admit defeat.

'Then again most people could just as easily say the same thing about me if they saw what I saw.' Akane grimly told herself. 'None of us were saints. But here we have a chance to change that and I'll be damned if I don't try. Even if it means I'm not the only one who can call herself Mrs. Saotome.'

For some reason, calling herself that made her heart flutter. But she had to be serious right now so she pushed that aside. "Also, while we're here, I think I should warn you guys about some of the things we really should be prepared for."

Ranma and Shampoo gave her their complete attention. "Our most immediate concern is Ryoga, who should arrive first and within a week or so, assuming my vision is accurate even if not dead-on. What makes him a concern is he's dead-set on getting revenge on Ranma for something that's his own fault. He challenged Ranma to a duel over bread but didn't show up for four days, and decided to follow Ranma to China and got a curse by mistake."

"What's his curse?" Ranma asked, wondering what to be on the look for.

"Hard to say. Since your curses are different his might be too. But he showed up in human form so look for a boy with a yellow bandanna and umbrella showing up. He'll say Ranma owes him a fight, but whatever you do refuse to fight him. No matter what, don't give him what he wants."

"Why not?" Ranma asked, the idea of turning down a challenge not appealing to him.

"If you do he'll never stop. He doesn't want to have a simple spar Ranma, he wants to utterly defeat you and humiliate you. I don't know what would be enough for him, but if you keep beating him, which I know you can and will, he won't ever stop. He'll even pretend to be your friend so he can take advantage of you, and it'll be over a year before he starts acting like it's not worth it anymore. You can either fight him every time it comes up, or you can refuse to play his game. What do you think is better?"

"I can't refuse a challenge. It goes against the Warrior's Code." Ranma told her.

At that choice of words, Akane frowned, but not in anger. "Ranma, in my dream Ryoga used his curse to come between us. You knew he had a curse, but I didn't, and because you felt guilty about him getting it, you promised him not to tell anyone." 'With the exception of Akari.' "You said it was part of the Warrior's Code not to say anything about this."

Ranma nodded. "That's right."

Akane shook her head. "The problem was Ryoga didn't care. He knew you wouldn't say a word so he used your promise against you. I ended up making him my pet and he rubbed that in your face how he could spend time with me and you couldn't. You couldn't come out and tell me about it so you tried keeping him away from me, making it look like you were picking on my pet instead of protecting me. He wanted you and me to turn against each other, and he almost succeeded all because you took your honor too seriously."

"Honor _is_ serious." He told her.

"Shampoo agree." The Amazon added.

"I know, but if you take it too seriously it will be used against you. Ryoga knew you wouldn't incriminate him so he tried to make you look like the bad guy. What if someone else tries the same thing? What if you're challenged into a no-win scenario? Will you take it simply because you might be badmouthed if you don't?"

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios." Ranma firmly stated, as if that ended the discussion.

Akane sighed in frustration. "Ranma, think about it like this. Kuno would sometimes make this the conditions for a fight with me, if I won my prize was a date with him and if he won his prize was a date with me. That's a no-win scenario for me, isn't it?"

Ranma struggled to see a way around it. "Ummm... I guess. But there has to be a way to avoid losing."

"There is, by refusing to go along with it. If you don't play his game he can't win. You can't win either but you also can't lose. That's why I refuse to acknowledge his challenges. You may think of it as dishonorable to refuse a challenge, but I'd rather do that then give him what he's trying to get."

"No blame you." Shampoo asked.

"Couldn't you just change the terms to be more fair for you?" Ranma asked.

"I have Ranma but he won't listen. You're not getting my point. Sometimes the enemy won't give you that luxury. If you had to fight one of the Amazons, do you think they'd let you decide the terms? Or if Kuno challenged you, do you think he'd ask you what you'd think is fair?"

Ranma was going to argue, but his mouth failed him once he actually thought that last statement over. Given the rules of the Joketsuzoku he did know, and what he had seen and heard regarding Kuno's cognitive capabilities, Akane's claim was not without merit.

After a moment, he managed to speak again. "What do you want from me Akane? Am I supposed to only do something from now on when I have your permission? I can't do that. I've always done things on my terms when possible and I don't plan on that changing." He told her rather defensively, trying to reassert a sense of control over himself he worried she was trying to take from him even if it was for his own good.

"I know Ranma and I'm not telling you to stop. But this isn't just about you anymore." Akane told her stubborn fiancee. "Just promise me that if something happens and it doesn't affect just you, don't act like it does. Please?"

"Akane right." Shampoo agreed, using the Japanese girl's name for the first time. She then knelt down before Ranma and started nuzzling his chest and under his chin comfortingly, exactly like an animal that wanted to be petted. She even gave a strange vulpine purr, something Akane wasn't certain even existed. And judging from Ranma's reaction, this wasn't the first time she had done this.

Not wanting to feel left out, Akane knelt down beside the young man too and took his had in her own, and gave him the sweetest smile she could. "Ranma, we care for you and we will support you in anything you choose to do. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm trying to control you. I'm not, I just want what's best for you."

"Thank you Akane. You too Shampoo." He said to both girls.

Shampoo wagged her tail a bit, but then she perked up her head and started sniffing. "Someone here. On other side of door."

Akane immediately frowned, got up, and opened the door only to see Nabiki's back, desperately trying to look like she had just been passing by. "Nabiki, I'm not going to tolerate eavesdropping on my love life."

"I didn't hear a thing." The middle Tendo daughter said.

"Even so, if I wanted you or anyone else to know something I'd tell you. My secrets are not yours to sell." She then closed the door without waiting for a response.

* * *

Dinner came and Genma happened to be in his mule form at first. He tried to go ahead and eat first but Kasumi refused to allow him to enter her house and track dirt on the floor with his hooves, so he had to wait until she brought him some hot water, which came after everything else had been set up.

Fox-girl Shampoo sat down on Ranma's side opposite Akane, much to Soun's displeasure. "Could someone please tell me why she's here."

"I invited her to stay for dinner Dad. Nothing wrong with that." Akane told him.

"You are aware she's trying to take your fiancée away from you right?" The mustachioed man asked his youngest daughter.

"We worked that out this afternoon Dad. We know how to handle this."

"How so?" Soun and Nabiki asked.

"Can we please change the subject?" Ranma asked, not liking the looks he was getting from Soun and Nabiki because of this.

"Starting tomorrow I'll have a job." Genma told everyone.

"Where? A petting zoo?" Ranma asked, making Nabiki laugh.

"No, I'm going to be working as a human." Genma told his son.

"Good because I'm pretty sure they don't pay animals. Unless you like working for buckets of oats." Akane commented.

"I'll have you know I have a respectable job. There's this clinic in town that had a position open and I took it."

Akane resisted a scoff out loud but allowed herself that luxury in her head. 'So he got it here too? I wonder how long this will last since my dream didn't show that.' "Just remember you need hands not hooves Mr. Saotome."

"I'm aware of that Akane."

"Oh that reminds me." Kasumi spoke up. "Akane, next time you're passing Tofu's clinic could you return this book I borrowed?" She held out a book on pressure points.

"I suppose, but maybe Nabiki should instead. I did tell him that Nabiki would stop by later to cover todays visit."

"Wait, why me?" The middle Tendo asked.

"Do you have anything better to do?" Akane asked back. "Besides, since you know about our funds better than any of us why not you?"

"It's not coming out of my personal funds."

"I never said it would have to."

"Would you do it Nabiki? It's not right to refuse Tofu payment for his generous work." Kasumi asked.

Nabiki sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. After I'm done here."

"Is something wrong?" Shampoo politely asked.

"No nothing really." Akane simply told her. Shampoo just shrugged.

* * *

The next day Akane and Ranma went to school, this time they managed to avoid getting Ranma wet, and there was once again a group of boys waiting for Akane. This time however, they just stood there, making no attempt to subdue here.

'Are they finally giving up?' Akane asked herself, stopping in front of them to see if this was true. "What's going on? Is this some kind of new trick?" She asked for appearances, taking on a stance to complete the performance.

One of the boys stepped forward. "Akane Tendo, we won't fight you anymore."

"We had a meeting." Another spoke up. "We all decided to choke down our sorrow, and accept your engagement to Ranma Saotome." A few of them started shedding tears.

Akane lightly smiled, grateful. "About time. Listen boys, you want to get a girl to like you, try more traditional methods such as asking her out, okay?"

Most of them nodded, but one stepped forward in defiance. Akane now recognized him, since the bandages obscuring his face were a dead giveaway.

"Akane, a base rumor states that the demon-allied Ranma Saotome has bested me in combat. While they might leave the battlefield to defend themselves, I shall never admit defeat." He then quivered a little bit, obviously not fully recovered, and dropped to his knees, using his bokken to keep the rest of him from following.

"Kuno's claims are nonsense, but the evidence on his body is real. If Ranma Saotome could beat Kuno, the best fighter here so easily, then the rest of us have no chance of winning." The crowd admitted. "We don't like it, but we've decided that we gotta get over you."

Akane turned to Ranma. "Oh I'm so crushed. Hold me Ranma, make the pain go away." She said sarcastically. Either way, Ranma didn't move towards her.

"I will never accept defeat." Kuno repeated as he got back to his feet. "Whether that unholy Ranma summons one or one-thousand demons, it matters not to Tatewaki Kuno." He then removed his bandages, showing the bruises and scratch marks he got from Ranma and fox-girl Shampoo yesterday.

"For the last time, I don't summon demons." Ranma yelled, standing before the kendoist. "You were beat fair and square. Get over it."

Kuno lifted his bokken up over his head, ready to attack. "I'll slay thee!" Because he wasn't as fast as normal, Ranma had no trouble kicking him and sending him flying back.

"Whatever. Someday he's got to learn."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that Ranma." Akane told her fiancee.

* * *

Later in the day it was gym class. Ranma and the boys were doing rhythmic exercises and Akane and the girls were playing baseball. Ranma was doing some impressive feats on the chin-up bars, showing swings, hand stands, and even graceful landings much to the amusement of his classmates.

"Wow, Ranma's pretty amazing." Hiroshi commented.

"I heard that he went abroad to study acrobats in China." Daisuke noted.

"It's kenpo, not acrobats." Ranma clarified as he sat down beside Hiroshi.

On the other side of the field they could see and hear the girls play their game. Akane's team was at the field and the opposing team just got their second out. Akane herself was in left field.

"So Ranma," Hiroshi started, regaining the pigtailed boy's attention. "How far have you gone with Akane?"

"What?" He asked, not sure he heard right.

"Don't play innocent. You're her fiancee right?" Daisuke added, also curious about this.

"Fiancee maybe, husband definitely not." Ranma told them.

"So? Since when is that mandatory for most things nowadays?" Daisuke followed up.

"I'm sure you've at least done something with her." Hiroshi claimed.

"That's none of your business." Ranma told them both, getting a bit irritated at thier nosiness.

"Here it comes Akane." One of the girls shouted, and Ranma managed to see her jump higher than a non-martial artist could to catch the flyball. Now her team could be at bat.

"With a great girl like that, how could you not have your hands all over her?" Daisuke asked.

Ranma snorted. "Simple, I don't want to become one of the guys she hits."

"And a guy like you can't take a hit?" Hiroshi asked.

"Just cause I can take it doesn't mean I'm eager to get it." He told his classmate.

"Still, she's really cute so you won't be able to resist for long." Hiroshi stated.

Ranma didn't reply, he just watched Akane go up to home plate and hit the ball. It headed right for him by sheer accident, but since he had been paying attention he caught it as easily and any player would have.

Akane saw that and sighed in relief. 'I'm glad I didn't hit him.' "Sorry, that one got away."

Ranma nodded and threw it back to the pitcher. "Does that count as an out?"

The umpire shook her head. "Foul ball. Akane, try again."

* * *

After school the two had no problems being assaulted by Kuno again, and walked home chatting calmly.

"Hey, let's stop by Tofu's, just to see if your father's working as a human or mule." Akane suggested. Ranma shrugged but didn't object.

They turned down a corner towards Tofu's clinic, and saw Genma as a human sweeping up the sidewalk out front. "At least you're not washing the concrete Pop." Ranma commented.

"Too risky working with water like that." He claimed. "So what brings you two here? Just passing by?"

"Oh hi you two." Tofu greeted walking up to the teenagers. "You need me to examine something?"

Akane shook her head. "No, just saying hi to Ranma's father."

"Oh so he's your father." Tofu replied, then looked between the two Saotomes. "Not much of a resemblence is there?"

"Oh he's definitely my son." Genma stated.

Akane nodded. "Yeah, they have the same appetite." She then giggled a little. "Hey, did Nabiki show up yet?"

Tofu nodded. "Yes, and she even brought back that book I let Kasumi borrow." As expected, his face turned a bit red upon mentioning her name.

"Maybe she'll come by later to thank you for letting her borrow it." Akane said.

"You... you think?" Tofu asked, his glasses fogging up.

Akane shrugged. "You never know." She then remember in her vision Kasumi was supposed to arrive in a little bit. "We should probably get going. See you at home later Mr. Saotome."

The two adults waved off the two teens.

"Were you trying to get away?" Ranma asked.

"Word of warning Ranma, never be around Dr. Tofu when Kasumi's around. He's got a thing for her, but he gets so nervous that he forgets what he's doing. If he was treating you and she showed up, you'd be lucky to have your head face forward."

"You're exaggerating, right?" He asked.

Akane shook her head. "If you don't believe me you're welcome to see for yourself."

"Naw, I'm good." He told her. "Wait, should we warn my old man?"

Akane thought about it, then chuckled. "Let him figure it out for himself. Consider it payback for the Neko-ken training."

"That bad?"

"Bad enough."

_Hey readers, here's a small poll for what Shampoo might do in the next chapter on the subject of enrolling in school. Pick any once or two choices and leave them with a review._

_1. tell them and come in school uniform_

_2. tell them and come in her normal cloths_

_3. don't tell them and show up in school uniform_

_4. don't tell them and show up in her normal cloths_

_5. don't go to school at all like in canon_


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

After the weekend Ranma and Akane went to school glad that there was no hentai horde to deal with. This morning even Kuno was taking the day off, at least for now. Things seemed to be fine, almost too fine.

When homeroom started, they were treated to something very expected.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today. This one I'm warned we need to be a bit patient with but still be courteous to them like any other." The homeroom teacher told them all.

Everyone was confused since they saw no unfamiliar face. Akane was understandably the most confused. 'New student? This didn't happen until Ukyo showed up. Is she here early?'

The door to the class opened and in walked a girl dress in the Furinkan uniform. But it wasn't Ukyo.

"Nihao everyone. My name Shampoo."

No one was more surprised than Ranma and Akane. There she was, the Chinese Amazon in human form dressed just like Akane, saying she'd be in their class now.

'What the heck? Shampoo never even considered enrolling here in the vision. Why is she doing it here?' Akane asked herself, knowing she would have to ask the Amazon this very thing soon.

"I not very good speaking Japanese but I learning. Friends Ranma and Akane will help me if you or I confused."

"Oh you already know Saotome?" The teacher politely asked.

Shampoo nodded. "Met in China in summer."

"Take the seat next to Saotome for now. I suspect this will make things easier for us all."

Shampoo nodded and took her seat. "Nihao Airen." She whispered to him as she did so. He just nodded in response.

* * *

Lunchtime came and Akane decided to take the opportunity. "Hey Shampoo, why are you coming to school?"

"You not already know?"

Akane shook her head. "No, you never did this in the dream."

"Great-grandmother say it help me get better in language and closer to Airen. Shampoo not get to live with him like you after all. No have that advantage so need this to stay near him."

Akane smiled amused. "Trust me Shampoo, you have a good advantage over me."

"Like what?"

"You're a much, much better cook. I'm... this is hard to admit, but my cooking is terrible. Until I get better, I don't even want to try and give Ranma anything I make." The young Tendo then closed her eyes momentarily. 'That behavior is one of the ones I most want to avoid repeating.'

"How bad are you?" Shampoo curiously asked.

"Bad enough that in my vision Ranma feared my food almost as much as he feared cats. Your food he never turned down, even though I thought it was drugged most of the time."

"I no drug food."

"You did once." Akane claimed. "One time you used some sort of hypnotic mushroom to make Ranma hug you. Problem was he hugged anyone, not just you. Since then in my dream I was suspicious of anything edible you offered."

"I no do that this time. I no want control Airen. Like it more he control me."

Akane smirked with a light laugh. "Never thought I'd hear an Amazon say they liked being controlled by a man."

"Don't tell Grandmother. She not approve. But Shampoo like idea of man strong enough to dominate self. Sex be so good then."

Akane blushed at that. Despite the maturity her dream had given her and her admitted interest in Ranma, the idea of sexual activity still made her a bit bashful. In fact, her offer for Ranma to touch her breasts was mostly a whim and a steeping stone to getting over her shyness. While she was now bolder than before in sexual terms, she was still nervous on a lot of things and wanted to take things slowly but surely.

Akane decided to change the subject. "Want to eat lunch with me and my friends?"

"Sure."

Ranma was already eating with Hiroshi and Daisuke so Akane chose not to bother him. She led the Chinese girl to where Yuka and Sayuri were waiting, hoping for some girl talk. "Hi guys. You remember Shampoo right?"

"Hard to forget someone who stands out so much." Yuka replied.

"What you mean?" Shampoo asked.

"You're Chinese and have lavender hair. You don't exactly blend in with the crowd." Yuka clarified.

"Not Shampoo fault she no Japanese." She defended as she sat down.

"Yuka, be nice." Akane chided.

Sayuri decided to aim the conversation in a better direction. "So what brings you here?"

"Shampoo get married soon."

"What?" Yuka and Sayuri asked. "You too?" Shampoo nodded. "To who?"

"Ranma." Shampoo plainly answered.

The two girls temporarily lost the ability to speak after that. Their eyes just darted between their old friend and this new girl, who apparently were engaged to the same man.

Akane knew how was the best time to avoid making things worse. "Guys, there's something you must understand. Ranma's father isn't exactly a scrupulous man, even though my father likes him. Ranma's father actually got him engaged to a third girl too that will come here in a month or too. None of this is Ranma's fault."

"Wait, you mean you're still interested in him knowing this?" Yuka asked.

Akane nodded. "Why not? I said it's not Ranma's fault his father arranged a second engagement for him or took him to China. Ranma can't control his father anymore than you can control yours so don't act like he's just playing us."

"But if he doesn't choose between you two then he is playing you." Sayuri noted.

Shampoo was about to disagree to that, but decided to not speak for a moment. 'I may just make things worse for Akane and her friends if I told them the truth.'

Akane luckily answered for Shampoo in a more appropriate way. "Guys, what are we supposed to do? Tell Ranma to pick which one of us to marry and completely ignore the other girls? When he barely knows either of us well enough to decide that? He can't make that decision just yet, and neither can we. That's like going on a first date with someone and expecting them to be willing to commit to you."

"He still shouldn't accept this and neither should you." Yuka declared.

Akane frowned. "And what are we supposed to do? Tell me Yuka. Are we supposed to go up to a boy we've barely known for a month and demand he decide which one of us he wants to spend the rest of his life with? How is that in anyway helpful?"

"Do you even have a plan for how to handle this Akane?" Sayuri asked.

Akane nodded. "Yes, me and Ranma and Shampoo already discussed it. For the time being, we're just going to see how a relationship with Ranma would work, all the while no girl has a stronger claim to him than one of the others so we don't get into a competition over it. After a while, we should know if something long-term is something we want and Ranma will better know which girl he wants in his life and what he wants them as."

Shampoo smiled a bit, knowing Akane was accurately describing their arrangement without admitting the long-term goal was polygamy.

"So basically it will be an open relationship until he can make up his mind." Sayuri summarized.

Akane shrugged. "Basically, yes. If you have a better idea please tell me."

"Actually I just have one question." Sayuri told her friend. "Why are you still willing to give Ranma a chance after knowing all this? I'm not saying you shouldn't, but given your history I'd expect you to instead be using this as a way to avoid being forced with a boy."

"Ditto." Yuka agreed.

Akane sighed. "Because Ranma isn't like Kuno or the other boys here. If he was I'd have to put a padlock on my bedroom door, but he's been respecting my privacy and space. He's not a pervert. If anything, he's not perverted enough to even be considered normal."

"Shampoo hope change that." The Amazon said.

"Wait, you want him to become more perverted?" Yuka asked.

"Shampoo want Airen not afraid show interest. Is it wrong want boy find you sexy?"

Neither girl could deny that.

"Guys that's enough. It's not like she's carrying around condoms or anything." Akane stated.

Shampoo blushed. "Actually..."

Akane was wide-eyed. "Wait, you mean...?"

Shampoo shook her head. "No with me, but have them in room. Better have and no need than need and no have. For when Airen interested. Got in his size too."

"Wait, how do you know his size?" Akane asked, starting to blush a bit.

Shampoo smirked and leaned closer to her. "Same way you know. Saw it."

Akane's face was as red as her name and that prompted her friends to speak up. "What? Akane don't tell us that you... you actually...?"

"I walked in on him once. It was pretty hard _not_ to see." Akane defended.

"Bet it pretty hard too." Shampoo joked, enjoying the humor of the situation.

"Could we please not talk about a boy's junk while I'm trying to eat?" Yuka asked.

Shampoo nodded. "Okay." She then looked back at Akane who was taking a bite of an onigiri. "So Akane, you show Airen boobs yet?"

Akane immediately coughed up her chewed up rice ball, inadvertently spitting it on Yuka. She had to catch her breath and clear her throat before responding. "What?"

"You show off chest yet?" Shampoo asked, trying to sound like it was normal conversation but her expression showed she was still toying with the Japanese girl.

"You shouldn't ask a girl that."

Shampoo looked rather pleased. "I not hear no."

Akane sighed. 'I shouldn't be surprised. She was willing to strip for Ranma in my dream so she's not as sexually insecure as I am.' Looking at her friends she saw they were eager to hear an answer but fearful of what she might say. "Alright, I admit it. He managed to see me too." 'No way I'm admitting to them that I wanted him to see me naked this time I saw him in the furo.'

"He what?" Yuka and Sayuri asked.

Akane gave them a firm look. "Settle down, it just happened, it wasn't something he planned. Besides, all he did was see, he didn't even try to touch me and believe me, if he _wanted_ to force himself on me he could."

"And you still want to date him?" Sayuri asked, and Akane nodded. "May I ask why?"

"It's either him or Kuno."

"Good point." Sayuri quickly said.

* * *

After school ended Akane, Ranma, and Shampoo walked off together.

"Want come to Fox Cafe?" Shampoo asked.

"I'm not hungry, but I'm sure Ranma still is." Akane replied.

The pigtailed young man shrugged. "I wouldn't turn down something simple."

"You two go on without me. There's something I wanted to check out first." Akane told them both. Before they left, she had one thing to add. "Shampoo, don't bring Ranma up to your room."

"No promise." Shampoo replied before she disappeared with Ranma.

The youngest Tendo was momentarily worried about what might happen between her fiancee and his Chinese bride-to-be. 'Don't worry, he's not going to jump into anything so quickly. He's probably as uncertain about intimacy as I am. Hopefully, that can change.'

In no time, Akane reached her destination, Tofu's office. She knocked and he answered. "Hi Akane, you hurt somewhere?"

She shook her head. "No. Actually Dr. Tofu, I wanted to ask you something."

"What's that?"

"I... this is hard to say but... I think Ranma and maybe myself could benefit from a small bit of counselling in a specific area." She bashfully admitted, adding the part about herself by sheer Freudian slip. "Do you know anyone that could help us in that?"

"That depends on the reason the two of you need help. Is it for marital advice, anger issues, or something more akin to intimacy issues?" Tofu asked.

Akane blushed at being put on the spot. 'This is so embarrassing, but Ranma needs it... and I guess maybe I do too.' "Umm... closer to the last one."

"It's a good thing you're seeking advice. Since you're both teens and your families are expecting the two of you to get married, it would be very unusual for the two of you to not consider the possibility of being intimate someday. Whether or not you save it for marriage is your business, but I do recommend you at least use birth control if you can't wait that long."

"Do you... know anyone we can talk to about this?" Akane asked again.

"I could help you a bit myself. I know it must be hard talking about this sort of thing to someone you're familiar with, but admitting such personal things to a complete stranger might not be much better either. Which would you prefer?"

Akane thought it over for a moment and made up your mind. "Can you? I never really imagined this was something you were trained to do."

"Not specifically, but since I do work with teens a lot I figured it was a good thing to brush up on. Now why don't we sit down since I'm not busy right now?"

Akane followed him to one of the private rooms in the clinic. There might not have been anyone else there, but the measure of privacy helped make her feel better given the situation.

"Why don't we start by you asking what's most on your mind?" Tofu asked when he sat down, seated across from Akane.

Akane struggled for a moment to properly express her concern in words. "Well, lately I've been having certain... urges towards Ranma that aren't like me at all."

"First Akane, I want you to know that urges are natural." Tofu interjected. "I know it must feel weird to have urges since as a girl you are taught your whole entire, directly and indirectly, that you're not supposed to want sex until you're married. However, you should never forget you are also a teenager with all the hormones teenagers get. Everyone gets these urges on occasion and they are perfectly natural. Even your sisters get them once in a while."

'Nabiki I could see that as true, but most of the time I doubt Kasumi could be horny even if her life depended on it.' Akane thought.

"What I'm trying to say is that these urges you have are nothing to be afraid of. You're not the only girl to be tempted to do something with a boy, and you don't need a marriage license to have permission for that sort of thing. You should save it for when you're ready, when you're in love, instead of just trying to get an urge out of your system. Does that help you any?"

Akane nodded, actually feeling a bit more reassured. "Yes Doc. But it's still strange to understand."

"Let's try this another way. How do you feel when you imagine Ranma kissing you?" Tofu asked.

Akane lightly smiled at the mental image, even though the incident with the cat fist did come to mind as well. "Hopeful."

"Now how do you feel when you imagine him making out with you or using his tongue in a kiss?" Tofu added.

Akane needed a moment to find the right words and squash a brief flare of arousal. "Curious, and in a strange way excited."

"That's normal for a teenage girl. Nothing to be afraid of." The doctor reassured her.

"What about when he wants more?" Akane asked.

"Akane, what exactly are you afraid of? Do you think he won't take no for an answer?"

Akane shook her head. "No not at all. I know... I have faith Ranma wouldn't force himself on me like that."

"Then why be afraid?" Tofu asked again. "If you're certain he's going to respect your wishes then why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous. I'm just..." Akane denied, but lost track of her own comment. "I... I don't know what to think of myself. Before now, I never wanted a boy to be interested in me, much less wanted myself to return the interest. Now, I want to do things that I thought only perverts wanted to. Is it normal to want that for someone you care for, or am I becoming a pervert?"

'Ah, so she's afraid of becoming the very thing she scorns.' Tofu told himself, thinking he reached the heart of Akane's discomfort. "Akane, like I already told you, everyone is a bit perverted. Some are more open about it and some are more repressed about it, but no one is completely without a libido. Not even women. Girls can get horny too and there's nothing wrong with wanting this sort of thing. These urges don't mean you're going to transform into a nymphomaniac if you don't keep them locked away and avoided at all costs."

"So how do I handle them?" Akane asked. 'In my dream I handled them by beating the crap out of Ranma to keep myself from giving in. I don't want to do that but I don't know what I can do before I'm ready to act on them.'

"There are a few ways. The most popular one is probably having a hobby. Keeps your hands busy and allows you to channel your frustration into something more constructive. No I don't mean breaking bricks with your bare hands Akane, that's just a poor excuse for anger management and will damage your hands someday. For you I'd recommend learning more about the non-aggressive aspects of martial arts."

Akane nodded. 'I do need to learn more. Luckily my dream made that easier since I've got a better understanding of how Ranma's future techniques work and are learned. Imagine me using the Amaguriken and Hiryu Shoten Ha, heck maybe even the Bakusai Tenketsu. Wait, maybe not that one. Don't think I want boulders thrown at me.'

"Thank you Dr. Tofu, I feel better now." She said.

"Glad to help. The only thing I want to add is you're not on a timeline or anything like that so you shouldn't feel like you're supposed to be doing something at a certain point. If you do anything, it should be because it feels right, not because you feel obligated to. If Ranma's the right guy for you, he'll understand. For all you know, he's probably confused on a few things too."

'I can see that as true.' The youngest Tendo thought. "Do you think you could give him some advice too?"

"I can try, but he'll have to come here."

Akane nodded and stood up. "Thanks for everything Dr. Tofu. You've been a great help. One last question, how do I tell Ranma you can help him on this?"

"Why not just be honest?" He asked her.

Akane blanched. "You expect to admit to a boy that I had these sort of questions?"

"What's the worst he can do?" Tofu asked, using the exact same tone as before.

Only one answer came to her mind. 'Nothing I couldn't make him stop doing.'

"Maybe you're right and I am just worrying about nothing. But having a group of horny teenagers trying to ambush you each morning does tend to leave an imprint on you. I guess I just need to learn how to accept these urges my own way."

Tofu nodded. "I also offer birth control options and pregnancy tests if you ever need them in the near future."

"Hopefully not too near." Akane replied waving off his offer. 'But hopefully not too far off either.'

* * *

As Akane headed home, someone else she was familiar with was headed her way too from a great distance. But this someone wasn't looking for her.

"Ranma... I will make you see hell. Once I find you, you're a goner."


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

"You okay Ranma?" Akane asked when school was over and they walked down the hall.

The pigtailed boy yawned. "I will be once we get back. Yesterday really wore me out."

"All because of what Nabiki did?"

"You weren't the one she was doing it all to. Kasumi helping her only made it worse." He told her.

"Well you did need to wear something since all your clothes were in the wash." Akane pointed out.

"Kasumi actually wanted me to look like a girl and Nabiki treated it like a game." He stated.

"Hey you could have fought back at any point. The fact that she actually managed to get some of those outfits on you is your fault too you know." Akane told him, remembering the various outfits Nabiki had made a clothing-deprived Ranma wear the other day. Such outfits included but were not limited to a gym uniform and even an adult bunny costume, all for Ranma's female form. Akane still wondered why Nabiki had one of those lying around the house.

"Hey if I had attacked her your old man would have gone ballistic."

"Maybe, I'll give you that, but couldn't you at least have gone back to being a boy so she couldn't do that?" Akane asked as they stepped outside. She kept checking to see if anyone was overhearing their unusual conversation but so far none were.

"A half-naked boy running around a house full of girls? Yeah, that would have gone much better." Ranma sarcastically replied.

Akane noticed the stares and decided Ranma was right. There were many students standing around watching them warily. "Yeah, let's get going." They left without saying a word to anyone else.

Before they could continue the debate, Shampoo approached them. "Airen, strange boy ask for you."

"Does he have a bokken?" Ranma asked.

Shampoo shook her head. "No, umbrella."

"Umbrella?" Akane repeated, then Shampoo nodded. "Oh great, he's here."

"Who? That boy you warn about showing up?"

Akane nodded. "Yeah that's him. Ryoga Hibiki. Where is he right now?"

"Asking boy where Airen is."

"As soon as he sees Ranma he's going to strike a sneak attack with intent to kill."

Just then, there was a shadow above them. "RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!"

"Damn, too late." Akane muttered before she, Ranma, and Shampoo jumped to avoid his attack. He created a small crater in the pavement, and the trio took up defensive stances in case of a follow-up move on his part. A crowd quickly formed to see this strange event.

Ryoga stared at his pursued target of many months while still crouched on his knees. "I've been looking for you, Ranma Saotome."

Ranma recognized him right away thanks to the warnings Akane gave him. "So you really have been hunting me down Ryoga."

"Damn straight! You may have no priorities, but I sure do and defeating you is my highest one!"

'Oh get a life.' Akane bitterly thought to herself.

In her dream, Akane had thought of Ryoga as a friend, an undeserving victim of circumstance, and proof that Tofu wasn't the only decent guy in the world. In a weird way, Ryoga was everything she wanted Ranma to be, but felt no real desire to be with him instead of Ranma.

However, in the time since the dream, Akane's opinion of Ryoga had gone downhill. She didn't hate him, but she no longer felt sympathy for him now that she knew what her dream self hadn't known. His friendship with her, while genuine at times, had also seemed like a way to spite or one-up Ranma. His undeserved suffering was really just a result of him not paying attention to what he was doing. And his decency also was circumstantial depending on the situation or other person. In short, Ryoga may not have been the worst guy in the world to her, but he certainly wasn't someone to feel sorry for. Not for the reasons he wanted people to sympathize for anyway.

"We no let you." Shampoo announced.

Ryoga held in a laugh but did little to hide his amused expression. "Hiding behind girls now Ranma? Even I didn't think you'd get that pathetic."

"And what's so pathetic about having girls care about whether or not someone's trying to kill him?" Akane asked.

"This is none of your business." Ryoga insisted.

"You show up out of nowhere, yell out and I quote 'Ranma prepare to die', and you expect us to pretend we don't see or hear a thing?" Akane asked. "Unless you're part of the Yakuza there's no way I'm ignoring this."

"I said it's none of your business so just stay the hell out of it." Ryoga repeated.

"No." Akane defied.

"What did you just say?" Ryoga asked, as if prepared for anything but that.

Shampoo stepped forward. "She say no."

Ryoga frowned then grabbed his umbrella. "Then share his fate!" He announced, trying to attack all three of them.

Shampoo pulled her chui from out of nowhere and blocked his attack, but struggled to get him to back off when he pressed forward. 'Akane right, umbrella no ordinary. This be tough.'

"Ryoga stop this! This is crazy!" Ranma tried to reason.

The lost boy backed away from Shampoo merely to look at his true target. "Shut up Ranma and just let me kill you!"

"Fat chance of that!" Akane said before bringing out her mallet then hitting Ryoga with it. Since Ryoga's endurance wasn't built up due to Bakusai Tenketsu training yet, the hit was about as effective as it was against others. Meaning Ryoga was sent flying until he disappeared. 'Glad I can still do that.'

"Nice shot." Shampoo said, impressed.

"That must have hurt." Ranma noted.

"Landing will too." Shampoo added.

Akane put away her mallet. "He'll probably land in some water and at worst trigger his curse. He'll return to normal then come back here in a week."

"At least he not know where you live." Shampoo said.

Akane nodded, then got concerned. 'Wait a minute, in my dream Ryoga learned where Ranma and I lived and I never found out how. I better do some damage control before he has a chance to learn.'

"Umm girls? Could we get going already? People are staring." Ranma pleaded, feeling uncomfortable now.

Akane looked around, seeing a crowd of students looking around watching them warily. "Yeah, good idea. Let's go." The trio left without saying a word to anyone, but luckily for them no one tried to start a conversation.

"Hey Ranma, don't forget I told Dr. Tofu you'd stop by his place today after school. You ought to head there now." The youngest Tendo daughter told her fiancee.

"You really think I need to? I'm not good at that sorta thing." Ranma replied, well aware of what she wanted him to go there for. She told him why she went the other day.

Akane nodded. "Yeah, we're both confused on the arrangement between us and some help from a professional might help us at least know a little more about what we're doing?"

"Shampoo go too?" The Amazon asked.

"Maybe after you learn the language more, though by then we might all know what we want and you won't need to." Akane told her.

Shampoo nodded then looked at her watch. "Shampoo have go work. Bye Bye Airen, Akane." She said waving before heading to her restaurant.

"I hope she can handle schoolwork and restaurant work together." Akane thought out loud.

Ranma looked ahead and saw Tofu's clinic. "I guess this is my stop."

Akane smiled and head his hand. "Trust me, this will help you."

"How? Talking about my problems is not my style."

"Aren't you always looking for new ways to learn and improve?" Akane asked him.

"Yeah but not like this."

"And why not?" She asked.

Ranma huffed. "Because it's not fun, it's not something I can use, it's... it's just not me."

"Just try it Ranma. For me if not for yourself." She told him, trying not to get impatient. "Martial arts can't solve every problem you face, and I'm trying to help you here by giving you an alternative means of help. Dr. Tofu can help you understand any confusion you have so you won't have to ignore what you don't understand."

'This is one of those times I won't be able to win an argument.' Ranma thought, remembering one of many warnings his father gave him on women. "Fine, but I still think this is a waste of time."

"How about I make it up to you somehow?" Akane suggested.

Ranma looked intrigued. "Like what?"

"Oh, let me surprise you with that. Just promise you won't be too close-minded to Tofu. Okay?" She told him.

"Uhhh... okay." The pigtailed young man said, scratching the back of his head.

Akane smiled at him, knowing he found it cute when she did it like this. "Thanks Ranma. You won't regret this." She then headed off without him, giving him no chance to object any further.

With nothing else to do, Ranma went up to the clinic and knocked on the door.

* * *

"Nabiki?" Akane asked, knocking on her sister's door.

"Yeah sis?"

Akane opened the door. Nabiki was on the floor trying out a few aerobic stretches she was reading about in a magazine. "Nabiki, I need to ask you to do something around school."

The mercenary looked intrigued. "Hmm... such as?"

"I'm sure you heard today that someone from Ranma's past showed up at school today, declaring and I quote, 'Ranma prepare to die'."

"Yeah I heard that. What of it?"

"This guy's going to show up again sooner or later. What I'm asking is for you to ensure no one at school tells him where Ranma lives or for everyone to be on the look out for him until he shows up. I'm hoping you won't charge me for this, because keeping this dangerous guy away from our home should be enough for you."

Akane was exaggerating Ryoga's threat level, but hopefully Nabiki would consider peace of mind payment enough instead of cash Akane couldn't afford.

Nabiki looked at her sister for a moment, then closed her eyes and stopped stretching, settling into an informal seated position. "Sorry Akane, no can do."

"Why? Because I wasn't offering money?" Akane asked, feeling a bit insulted by the denial.

"Oh it's not that. It's the fact your request wouldn't work if I enacted it."

"Huh?"

Nabiki held her hand like she was pointing something out. "Akane, how exactly am I supposed to get a hold of each and every person in school and swear them to secrecy on something that doesn't truly concern them? I don't have that strong a control in Furinkan, and I couldn't very well control what they say or do outside of school. And besides, even if we assume that this guy wanting Ranma did not already know where he lives, he does know what school Ranma goes to. If he could find that out, why wouldn't he be able to find out Ranma's current address?"

Akane was aghast. 'I... she's right. I completely forgot that Ryoga also learned Ranma was at Furinkan, another hole in my dream. If he learned that, then of course he could learn where Ranma lives whether or not we try to stop him.'

"Akane?" Nabiki asked, wondering what her sister was wondering.

The younger girl sighed. "You have a point. Never mind sis. But do you think there's a way to at least keep him away?"

"Why? What did this guy do wrong?"

"Ranma and he had a small competition in middle school. After a lot of losing, the other boy, his name's Ryoga by the way, decided they needed a real spar to settle things, but his sense of direction was so lousy it took him four days to find the place they decided the spar was to be held, even though it was right behind his house."

Nabiki nodded mainly to show she was listening. 'Four days?'

"Ranma waited as long as he could, though his father made him leave town on the third day so they could go to China. When Ryoga did show up, he called Ranma a coward and decided to track him down to prove it. He's been following Ranma ever since then."

"And he's only just now caught up?" Nabiki questioned.

Akane nodded. "I told you, he's got a terrible sense of direction. Right now I wouldn't be surprised if he was in Sapporo."

Nabiki furrowed her eyes. "Akane, even if his sense of direction is bad, how in the world could he get to there from here in a couple of hours?"

"How can falling in a spring give a man breasts?" Akane asked back.

"Touche Akane. But still, do you really think this guy is dangerous?" Nabiki inquired.

"Nabiki, he jumped out of nowhere issuing a death threat. That's not exactly friendly if you ask me."

"Well what do you want me to do about it that you and Ranma couldn't?" The mercenary asked.

"You're the genius, you surely can figure something out." Akane said before leaving. 'If I know Nabiki, she should do it merely to prove she can. Now, what to do for Ranma?'

* * *

When Ranma came back to the dojo he had a lot on his mind thanks to Tofu.

"Hello Ranma, where were you today?" Kasumi greeted.

"Just out seeing the doc. Akane said it was good for us."

"How so?"

Ranma shrugged. "Not really sure. This sort of thing is completely new to me."

"What did you two talk about?" Kasumi asked.

-Flashback-

"So Ranma, is there anything you want me to help you understand?" Tofu asked.

Ranma took a moment to reply. "To be honest Doc, I have no idea what to say or do thing. Pops always said talking things out was for girls and the only thing men would talk about was their way out of times women wanted to talk to them."

Tofu had to collect his thought before he responded to this. "Well Ranma, your father is entitled to his own opinion and allowed to parent you as he sees fit, but that doesn't mean every lesson he teaches is the right one to learn. What you just described sounds to me like he was teaching that if you can't fight a problem you should just ignore it or let someone else take responsibility for it. That's far from the right thing to do."

"I know my old man ain't perfect but he's still my father." Ranma stated.

"I'm not arguing that, but you must understand you're past the age where your father is the one who must take responsibility for how you behave." Tofu told him. "When you were younger you didn't know any better, you were just following your father's example. That's how it is for all kids. But now you're practically an adult which means you've had plenty of time to learn the difference between right and wrong and can make your own decisions despite your parent's example. What you do now reflects not your upbringing but what you yourself believe is the right thing to do."

"What's your point Doc?" Ranma asked.

"My point Ranma is that when I ask you a question I don't want to hear what your father thinks, I want to hear what you think. You are not your father's ventriloquist dummy, he doesn't decide what words come out of your mouth. Now, back to my original question, is there anything you want me to help you understand?"

Ranma looked reluctant. "Why did Akane want me to do this when I told her it wouldn't do any good?"

"That's a question for Akane, not me. But why are you so certain I can't help you on something? Don't you have questions and concerns about what's expected of you and Akane?"

Tofu could tell Ranma was uncomfortable and thus defensive and unwilling to admit he needed help, so he had to lead the boy into opening up.

"Hell yeah I got questions! Why would everyone expect me to want to marry any girl right away? What if I don't want to? What if I don't care? I've been traveling on the roads learning martial arts my entire life. That's what I care about. Not even for one second in my life did I think about settling down in one place with a wife and kids. So why should I all of a sudden want that just because others are telling me to?"

"Ranma, it's perfectly natural for a teenage boy to not be ready for marriage. You shouldn't have to be. But you are in a position where you have to at least consider if you can see yourself with someone in the future. If you don't, that just tells me you're afraid to grow up."

Ranma looked annoyed. "Are you saying I'm just like a kid?"

Tofu adjusted his glasses. "What I'm saying is that you're afraid of what the future may hold so you keep yourself stuck in the past because it's what you're familiar with. It's not uncommon behavior, but it's not mature behavior either. By doing this, you're hoping to avoid something uncomfortable that hasn't happened yet by focusing your attention on something you've already done. Basically, you're afraid to become an adult."

"I'm not afraid of anything." Ranma countered. 'Except cats but that's not my fault.'

"Ranma, I could go into great length about the impossibility of that claim, but that may have to wait for later. Right now though I'm more concerned about how it sounds like you don't even want to entertain the idea of having a relationship with Akane. Why? Tell me what exactly do you have against the idea."

"I told you, I'm not ready for marriage."

Tofu shook his head. "I didn't ask why don't you want to be married. I asked why don't you want a relationship."

"What's the difference?" Ranma asked.

"Plenty." The doctor told him. "You really don't understand how to interact with the opposite sex do you?"

"Not unless it involves martial arts."

"Then Ranma, I have something I want you to try." Tofu said. "I want you to make a conscious effort to spend time with Akane every day after school doing something that doesn't involve martial arts. You may practice as normal and if she is up to it include her in it as well, but spend at least one hour every day you're with her doing something that isn't connected to martial arts."

"Why would I do that?" Ranma asked.

"Because you need to learn how to interact with people without the element of competition involved. Also, as you sound rather single-faceted to me right now, this should open you up to new things to do. I'm not saying martial artists shouldn't be important to you, but it shouldn't be your only priority. Don't you ever get tired of your next fight being the only thing you have to look forward to?"

"Honestly I never thought about it."

"Maybe you should. Just try it out for a week at least. The worst that can happen is you find out Akane isn't the kind of girl you want to be with in the long run and it's better to find that out now then just before or after you marry her."

Ranma thought it over and couldn't really find an argument that worked for him. "Fine Doc, I'll give it a try."

"Could you say it without sounding like a child being told to eat their vegetables?" Tofu joked.

-End Flashback-

"Sounds like good advice to me Ranma." Kasumi told the pigtailed teen.

"Me too." Akane said from behind Ranma, capturing him in her own version of the Amazon glomp.

Ranma was quite surprised. "How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you are basically under doctor's orders to date me now." She said with a victorious grin.

"What? No I'm not."

Despite this Akane still smiled. "Dr. Tofu told you to spend an hour a day with me with no martial arts involved. Why not date in that time?" She then leaned closer to whisper in his ear. "Or would you rather try something else boys and girls can do together?"

Completely red in the face, Ranma broke out of her hold on him and made a dash for his room, as if to hide from her.

Akane stayed where she was. 'Looks like I have to work at getting him to open up to me. I just hope he's not even more sexually repressed than he was in my dreams.'


	12. Chapter 11

_Remember everyone this is based on the anime, not the manga so there are bound to be some differences. Also, in case anyone doesn't know what an epee is, it's French for sword and usually refers to a thin blade used in fencing._

Chapter Eleven

As expected Ryoga showed up several days late for the match he insisted on having. And despite all of Akane's objections, Ranma was ready for him.

"He issued the challenge to me Akane. Pracitioners of Anything Goes like us cannot turn down a challenge." He explained days ago.

"Fine, show up and wait, but if Ryoga doesn't show up to his own schedule then he forfeits the challenge and your honor is unaffected." Akane told him.

Ranma admitted to himself she had a point, but he still wasn't convinced. "It ain't that simple Akane."

"It would be if you could accept my advice. Don't you remember what I was saying earlier about you not being a little more discriminate in the challenges you accept?"

Ranma slowly shook his head. "Akane, I was given a challenge. I have to accept it. That's how it works and always will."

"Says who? Your father?" Akane questioned. "Why would you take advice about honor from a man who'd rob the family grave for 2000 yen?"

"He wouldn't do that." Ranma countered.

"In my vision he did."

"In your vision I didn't turn into a horse, so you're not always right." The pigtailed aquatransexual pointed out.

"True, but would you call your father honorable?" Akane asked.

"We're not talking about my old man Akane." Ranma countered.

"Don't change the subject Ranma. When it comes to honor your father has a 'Do as I say not as I do' attitude and you know it. Yet despite that you take what he says seriously even though he himself refuses to follow his own advice. You're old enough to decide for yourself what is and isn't honorable. So if you _must_ fight Ryoga, do it for your reasons, not your father's or Ryoga's. And make sure you know why you have those reasons in the first place. Also, if Ryoga calls you a girl in the fight, don't let it get to you."

Akane had really hoped that Ranma would see reason, but the pigtailed teen just could not grasp the idea of turning down a challenge. As a result, he was ready to face Ryoga come hell or high water.

When Ryoga showed up it surprised them mostly because like most of Ryoga's arrivals, it was unannounced. When he did show up, he somehow walked into the athletic field while it was being used by the soccer club and got the ball to his face, making him fall no his back. The commotion alerted Akane and Ranma to his overdue arrival, and before Akane could get one last word in, Ranma went ahead and addressed his rival.

The two rivals stood in Furinkan's field facing each other with roughly ten yards between them. Ranma looked normal and Ryoga already had his umbrella in hand. Everyone in school, including a few teachers, were very interesting in seeing this, in seeing Ranma, the only person to truly defeat Kuno, fight someone with completely unknown skills. Even Kuno was watching, merely to get a better idea of what to expect of Ranma for later fights.

Shampoo sat beside Akane on some grass, heedless of Kuno also keeping his eye on her. In fact her presence was the only reason he was pestering Akane right then and there. "Airen look serious, but other guy look angry."

"He's always angry. Or moody. Generally anything but happy and he won't let himself be happy until he beats Ranma at something that Ranma can't recover from." Akane told her.

On the other side of Akane were Yuka and Sayuri watching. "Everyone's saying he's fighting a duel." Yuka commented, enjoying a vanilla ice cream cone.

Sayuri nodded. "I heard that too. Is he Akane?"

Akane shrugged. "Probably the best thing to call it. An old rivalry that was never settled and by now is pointless, but apparently these two need to settle it themselves."

"Ladies and gents! Ryoga or Ranma? Place your bets!" Nabiki's voice called out, causing the girls to turn to their lefts to see the mercenary who was shouting out with a megaphone while her business associates were collecting bets for the fight. "Who you gonna bet on? Hurry up and decide!"

Several people were eagerly placing bets, though to Akane's pleasure the higher bets were placed on Ranma. She took that as a sign that people recognized his strength. Nabiki just looked completely in her element to be handed money, telling people to get in line for placing bets.

Ryoga and Ranma were ignoring this, though they did seem to mutually decide to let the crowd get comfortable before they fought. An audience wouldn't really make things worse.

"So you came. You planned your defense well last time by surrounding yourself with girls Ranma." Ryoga stated.

"Uhh... you came to me Ryoga. Not the other way around." Ranma pointed out.

The lost boy ignored that. "It's been a month since the day I returned to Japan. I ended up in Okinawa and it was still summer there. Since then I wandered thru their jungles and the mountains that separated here from there just to get to you. And now that I'm here, I'm not leaving until you are crushed at my hands."

'Now this guy I like.' Kuno thought, sympathizing with the lost boy's words.

"I thought I was going to die for sure." Ryoga continued, then looked at Ranma with steel in his eyes. "But today it will all end."

Ranma looked annoyed by hearing this. "I don't know what to say. But you know what? I've got something to tell you too before we start." Ryoga didn't argue, which he took as a good sign. "If you lose this, you've gotta drop this Ryoga. I mean, you've been chasing me down ever since we were in middle school. I know you wanna win, but don't you want to stop being so vengeful even more?"

"This doesn't end until I win and you are more miserable than I have been." Ryoga stated.

Ranma looked annoyed. "That's exactly the sort of thing a sore loser would say. You want me to be more miserable than you? How miserable have you possibly been?"

"You would never understand." Ryoga said darkyl, ruefully.

"I might understand better than you know." The pigtailed teen said, briefly glancing towards Akane when he said that. "You want to fight over us never getting to fight in middle school? Fine, but I'm only fighting you this once on that. If you must fight me over and over again until you finally win, then at least get new reasons to. If you don't, then you're too childish for me to bother honoring your challenges anymore."

Akane smiled brightly. 'He _did_ listen to what I said. He's just using it in his own way.'

Ryoga removed his pack and pointing his umbrella at Ranma. "You have no right to talk about honor you coward! No more babble. Let's go!"

With that he moved forward and thrust his umbrella like a fencer would their epee. Ranma dodged the first strike and backed up from the second one. Ryoga changed tactics to try a slashing move with his weapon which Ranma ducked under and jumped over interchangeably.

"Did you go to China?" Ranma asked during a jump.

Ryoga jumped up, now trying to use his umbrella like a hammer. "Shut up!" He swung it down but Ranma, being an expert in mid-air maneuvers, spun in the air to dodge and still landed on his feet. As soon as Ryoga landed he tried another direct attack.

"This is scary compared to the sights I've seen Kuno in." Sayuri mentioned.

Akane looked in no way bothered, having of course seen much more. This fight was almost domestic by comparison to the ones to come in time. Shampoo wasn't too bothered either, used to a high degree of risk and competition in fights.

Nabiki kept her eye on the spar while one of her associates went over the collections. "Okay, the take is 11,473 yen. And they all bet on Ranma."

"You sure about this Nabiki? We took so many bets." Another associate asked. "If Ranma wins, we'll be bankrupt."

"I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve." Nabiki reassured. "Leave it to me."

'Does she plan on rigging the outcome?' The two girls thought, looking at Nabiki's confident grin.

Unknown to Akane, five boys from the Furinkan High chemisty club were at the far end of the field, watching the fight with interest.

"If Ranma, Akane Tendo's fiancee, were to fall in this duel..." One of them said before all five briefly spared the aforementioned girl a glance.

"Then perhaps..." Another of them added.

"Akane would be free..."

"To become the chemisty club's..."

Rather than finish, they just quietly laughed among themselves.

Back in the fight, Ryoga was breathing a bit heavily but otherwise looked as fine as before. He now opened the umbrella. "Take this!" He threw the umbrella and it moved like some sort of frisbee-top hybrid which Ranma effortlessly dodged. 'Akane said his umbrella is heavier than it looks, and likely sharper too. Gotta avoid any form of contact with it, even defensive.'

When Ranma's eyes were on the umbrella, Ryoga saw an opportunity. He threw a set of handcuffs that latched onto Ranma's right wrist, but instead of a short chain this set had a long wire, allowing Ryoga to attach the other cuff to his left wrist without being right next to his opponent.

"Now you can't run." Ryoga said.

"More like you can't get lost." Ranma corrected.

Ryoga rushed in to hit Ranma directly, which Ranma blocked. Ryoga followed up with a high kick that Ranma countered with one of his own, both blocking the other. At the same time the spinning umbrella came to a halt by the grassy surroundings of the field, and one nearby student curiously inspected it. Unaware, Ryoga and Ranma kept exchanging blows, neither one the obvious winner so far.

"Wow, that new guy fights as well as Saotome." A male student said.

Shampoo looked at him and shook her head. "No even close."

Akane looked to where she saw the umbrella land and as expected she saw the guy struggle just to lift the handle. 'Good thing I already warned Ranma about how Ryoga fights at this point. He shouldn't have any trouble.'

Ryoga aimed for Ranma's face but only scratched his left cheek with his thumb. This was enough to draw blood. Ranma wiped this wound but looked merely amused. "Alright Ryoga, now I'm serious." Ranma often took fights lightly in the beginning, but once he was hurt or someone outside the fight was in danger, he stopped with that approach.

"Oh, now you're serious? Don't make me laugh." Ryoga countered.

One of the kendo club members approached Kuno, who was still watching in hopes Ranma would lose. "Captain Kuno, that guy Ranma's fighting sure looks strong."

Kuno looked unaffected by the statement. "Perhaps he'd be interested in an alliance. The enemy of your enemy is your friend are they not?"

Ryoga jabbed his right arm forward looking an awful lot like he was trying to gouge Ranma's eyes out that time. The pigtailed teen ducked and used the wire for a pendulum effect to get under and behind the lost boy. The inertia allowed him to lock his feet around Ryoga's neck and quickly put all his weight on Ryoga's back, forcing the bandanna'ed boy to fall on his face.

"Okay Ryoga, how do you want this to end?" Ranma taunted.

"Uh oh, Ranma's going to win." Nabiki's first associate said, while the mercenary herself looked angry to see this unprofitable outcome. "What are we going to do Nabiki?"

At the same time the chemistry club was chanting/praying for Ranma to lose as well, just more openly than Nabiki was.

Angry, Ryoga grit his teeth. "With me as the victor!" Using his one free hand, his cuffed hand in no position to do anything thanks to Ranma's move, Ryoga gathered all his strength and did a hand stand then jumped into the air with Ranma still holding on. Ranma let go but went up with Ryoga, and now he was no longer behind Ryoga in his blind spot.

"He did that one-handed?" Hiroshi asked, astonished by the inhuman feat.

"No way!" Sayuri stated, also not believing her eyes.

Ryoga tried a few kicks but only Ranma landed on, right in Ryoga's gut. Ranma landed first, on his hands, and kicked Ryoga in the collarbone before he landed, sending him up and away. The wire went taut and pulled Ranma with him, but he planned for this and used the momentum to try a driving kick to his rival, who blocked with crossed arms. Even so, the attack downed Ryoga and made him land not far from where his umbrella was.

He saw it and before anyone could stop him Ryoga grabbed it. Ranma followed him, mostly because of the connecting wire, and the two ran up a chain link wall that surrounded the school tennis courts like squirrels. As they headed for the other side, the audience rushed to not miss the fight.

Right now, the chemistry club was pleased by this course of action. "Just like we expected." The tallest member said.

"The mines are in place and set now." The shortest member told him, having buried them before the match suspecting Ranma and Ryoga would take it in this direction.

"Hide everyone." The tall member said, and they took cover in the bushes. "Ranma, face the chemistry club's super-dimensional land mines we have been working on for days specifically for you."

Ranma and Ryoga came to a stop right in the area the chemistry club placed their weapons, too focused on each other to notice the subtle bumps in the dirt. Kicks and punches were exchanged, but no mines were triggered by their actions, even though one of them was clearly stepped on.

"Duds? They're duds! Now what do we do?" The chemistry club leader said in grief.

"We've got one last resort." Another member told him, mixing two liquids in beakers. "We mix two chemicals together then place them upwind of Ranma, forcing him to breath in the combined gas product. He's guaranteed to experience fatigue and headaches that will cost him the match." Unfortunately as he said this, the mixture was formed under his nose and he inhaled the aroma of his mixture, making him look drugged. "I feel good right now."

"Don't breathe it in you fool!" The leader said forcefully, punching his club mate in the face to knock him out of his stupor. "We shouldn't fall prey to our own weapons." 'Though the mixture is too risky, so I guess we better try something more reliable.'

Ranma and Ryoga were trying to force the other to give in, when suddenly the chemistry club decided to try the direct approach this time. They jumped out to land a sneak attack on Ranma with wooden mallets.

"Akane will be happy with us!" They shouted. "So rest in peace Ranma!"

Unfortunately for them, their attacks hit the wire and cut thru it, allowing Ranma to separate from Ryoga, and their mallets landed on the still-buried mines, which apparently weren't duds after all and just needed more force to be triggered. They glowed and Ranma and Ryoga immediately left but the chemistry club couldn't and took the force of the blast.

"Over here!" Nabiki called out, seeing the blast and letting her associates know where the fight had moved to. When they got there, they only saw five smoking holes and five charred but still alive bodies. Nabiki just smiled. "Okay ladies that's our cue. They've left the school grounds. Don't lose them."

Ranma and Ryoga were still sparring in the streets of Nerima. Ryoga had been thrown back into a metal pole, hurting his back a little. "You give up yet Ryoga, or do you want more?"

Nabiki showed up before the losst boy could answer. "There they are." Nabiki came right up to a confused Ryoga and whispered in his ear. "Relax, we're on your side. You know about vitamins right?" She held up two white pills. "Take these and your strength will increase tenfold long enough to win this."

"What?" Ryoga asked, skeptical by curious. Nonetheless, he took them. Nabiki even provided water to swallow them with.

"You will be the world's strongest man." Nabiki told him, sounding like a motivational speaker with an agenda. "No one will be able to stop you. Incomparable. Unrivaled. You are great! Gods kneel before you! You're turning into a tiger!"

Ryoga's eyes practically glowed with unbridled power. He held himself much like a bodybuilder showing off would. "The power's flowing into me! I'm burning with it! I can win! I _will_ win!"

He grabbed the pole behind him to test this out. Bear-hugging it, he lifted it like out of the ground as Nabiki and her crew got away. "Now Ranma, fight me fair and square."

"How is it fair and square if you've just taken something given to you by outside help?" Ranma asked.

Ryoga could not possibly care less. "Enough questions!" He declared as he held the pole like a lance and charged forward. He hit the wall behind Ranma punching a hole thru it. When Ranma was stunned he tried again and missed again, creating another hole.

Tired of dealing with this, Ranma got away from the range of the pole.

"Running away again Ranma?" Ryoga bitterly asked, refusing to see Ranma's tactics as anything other than what a mouse might do in his place. "You won't escape!" He yelled as he ran after him, the crowd from Furinkan now on his trail.

Ranma soon came to a stop. "Wasn't trying to escape you Ryoga. I just wanted to fight here instead."

Confused, Ryoga looked around and saw they were no longer in the streets but in a public park. One that just so happened to have a fountain in it. Seeing the water made him freeze for a moment.

"After you failed to show up on time you followed me Ryoga. You followed me all the way to China. To Jusenkyo. And now you change when you get wet." Ranma stated. "The crowd's catching up Ryoga. Want to risk them seeing you change? And if I get wet, you will too. You willing to take that risk?"

Ryoga's resolve faltered and he no longer felt so strong. "I can still win this!" He repositioned himself so that Ranma was between him and the water and swung his pole at Ranma, this time the broken end grazing him enough to cut open his shirt.

"Great, these silk shirts are a pain to mend." Ranma moaned.

"Quit whining like a girl." Ryoga ordered.

Ranma couldn't help but feel angry at that, since it was exactly what Genma said to him whenever he resisted more training or activity. But before he gave in to his anger, he remembered Akane's words. 'Also, if Ryoga calls you a girl in the fight, don't let it get to you.' With that, he restrained himself enough to surprise even him.

"What do you know about girls? When was the last time you even spoke to one without asking them where you were?" Ranma taunted.

"That's your fault!" Ryoga said before lunging at Ranma, who jumped forward and kicked Ryoga's pole cracking it and making the lost boy stop for a moment.

"How is that my fault?" Ranma yelled as the crowd from Furinkan found them and resumed watching this fight.

"Because you ran out on our fight and I had to chase you down to get the win I deserve! I haven't had time to find a girlfriend because of you!" Ryoga said, attacking with the pole like he was trying to decapitate Ranma with it.

Ranma looked mad and punched the pole in the crack, shattering it into pieces that Ryoga could not use. "That's your fault Ryoga! I didn't make you follow after me! You could have stayed home and moved on, but instead you had to be a little bitch about it and go after me for something _you_ were late for! Your lack of a romantic life is _your_ fault, not mine!"

"Shut up!" Ryoga yelled, refusing to see reason on this. To him Ranma was guilty and that's that, absolute end of story.

"No you shut up!" Akane shouted, having heard that last bit of their dialogue. "Ranma's completely right. You made the choice to challenge Ranma to a spar knowing full well you've never beaten him before. You made the choice to not prioritize being there on time knowing full well you might get lost otherwise. You made the choice to follow after him even after he left the country. And you made the choice to do nothing else in your life until you finished. Get it? You are to blame for your own problems!"

"You did all that?" Yuka asked. "For crying out loud get a life!" Several other students nodded when they thought over it. Up until now, some wondered if maybe Ranma had offended Ryoga and that's why the lost boy was so determined to win. But hearing he just wanted to displace blame off himself onto Ranma made them realize Ryoga was just vain.

Angered, Ryoga just stared Ranma down. "It doesn't matter what you or anyone else says. I'm going to win and that's all that matters." He then removed four bandannas from his head one by one, all without leaving his head bare. He spun them around in his hand for a bit, then jumped up and threw them like shuriken. Wires woven into the fabric grew taut from the direct momentum and became like razors in the spin.

Everyone had to run and try to hide since the bandannas flew around uncontrollably and bounced off whatever they didn't cut. Some students got tears in their clothes or skin and some got some hair cut off too, but no injury was life threatening fortunately. Nonetheless they all ran from the area except for a few.

Reacting on sheer instinct, Ranma grabbed Akane and lifted her out of the danger zone, jumping into one of the surrounding trees. Ryoga jumped upwards but without warning Shampoo jumped out of the neighboring tree and caught him by surprise, knocking him off course and forcing him down into the fountain with her.

Seeing this, Ranma got out of the tree with Akane still clinging to him. "Let's see what he becomes."

The two approached the fountain to see what the lost boy would become now that he was wet. First came Shampoo with fox features, who stepped out of the water and shook off. Then what could only be Ryoga emerged.

'That's definitely not P-chan.' Akane thought.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Because the curses that Ranma, Genma, and Shampoo had in this reality were different than the ones Akane had been so familiar with, Akane was prepared for the possibility that Ryoga's curse had been different too. Part of her wondered if he even got cursed this time around or if Ranma still knocked him over the cliff while chasing Genma. Now she was getting her answer.

The thing that emerged from the water was large and bulky, and appeared to be one four legs. 'Did he get the panda curse?' Akane asked herself, the water briefly obstructing all but the obvious shape. But the water fell off him and revealed Ryoga's alternate form.

"A cow?" Akane asked herself, seeing a bovine wearing Ryoga's headband. "You fell in the Spring of Drowned Cow?"

Ryoga stepped out of the fountain and made what was probably the cow version of a growl. It intimidated no one.

If anything Shampoo started laughing. "Not just cow, girl cow."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked. Taking a closer look at Ryoga, she noticed the udder almost hidden from view. And while Akane wasn't an expert on animals, she did know that only female bovines had udders. "Wow, Spring of Drowned Female Cow?"

Ryoga looked annoyed and Ranma didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed as well. "Ryoga, you think you've got it bad? Try this on for size." He suddenly switched to his female form.

"Wait Airen!" Shampoo warned before she switched to her fox form and came up to her now-female fiancee.

"Huh?" Ranma asked, just seconds before the crowd from Furinkan showed up. 'Ah, now I get it. Wouldn't have been good for them to see my centaur form.'

"Hey, where'd that cow come from?" Sayuri asked.

"I don't know. It was here when I came." Akane lied. "Maybe if we leave it alone its owner will come back for it."

Ryoga made angry grunts when crowded by the students and they took the hint to keep their distance. The lost boy then tried to charge at Ranma, which of course to everyone else looked like a cow trying to trample a girl.

"Get out of the way!" A girl shouted to Ranma.

The young Saotome was confident in her strength, but not as much in her female form and she didn't want to find out right now. Grabbing Shampoo she jumped over the charging Ryoga, landing a kick on the top of his bovine head in an effort to knock him out. It didn't seem to work, and the cow slowed down and turned around ready to try this again.

Having no reason to doubt the circumstances of her own strength, Akane chose this moment to pull out her trusty mallet and slam it in Ryoga's face before he could gain speed. She didn't make the cow go flying over the moon like the child's poem says, but it did tip over like people visiting farms try to make them do sometimes. On his side, Ryoga struggled to get back on his feet, or hooves, and Akane leaned down, looking like she was pinning the head while she whispered to him.

"Listen to me Ryoga Hibiki. If you don't want me to sell you to a farm in Kobe you will calm down and give up this fight. I am not even close to kidding."

"Where's Ranma and Ryoga?" A male student asked, clearing the area for them.

"Not sure. I think they went that way." Ranma answered, pointing in a random direction.

"Great, now we'll never know for sure who won." The same student mumbled.

Nabiki suddenly got a great idea. "Alright everyone, due to the disappearance of the fighters all bets are considered void and will be returned as normal. No one wins and no one loses." 'I may not profit from this, but at least I won't go bankrupt. And that's victory enough under the circumstances.'

Ranma stepped up and put her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice. "Hey everyone! Nabiki rigged the match! She gave Ryoga pills to boost his strength! I saw it with my own eyes!"

The students looked aghast to hear this while Nabiki's associates were worried about being found out. Nabiki just lightly glared at the redhead. "You can't prove anything."

"Then empty your pockets. All of you. Prove me wrong." Ranma countered.

Nabiki looked a little worried. 'Oh crap, I still have the bottle on me. Sure they were only placebos I gave Ryoga, but if I'm caught I'll lose my reputation completely.' She then got a desperate idea, and pointing away from herself. "Hey, I think I see them over there." Everyone quickly looked where she was pointing, even Ranma and Akane just to see what she was really pointing at, and during the brief moment no one's eyes were on her Nabiki took the 'vitamin' bottle out of her pocket and chucked it away from her.

"I don't see anything." A student said, and everyone looked back at Nabiki.

"Must have been some shadows then." Nabiki said as she emptied her now evidence-free pockets. "See? I got nothing on me. I did not tamper with the fight."

"Ranma, did she really do that?" Akane whispered to the redhead who nodded. Akane then looked back at her sister. "Mark my words Nabiki, you will regret what you did."

Nabiki narrowed her eyes. 'She's probably bluffing, but my sister's never actually threatened me before. I better keep my guard around her and Ranma for a while.' "Everyone will get their money back and better luck next time. As for the cow, let's just leave it here. I'm sure someone will come and claim it."

Not wanting to be picked up by some random person who'd send him to a slaughterhouse, Ryoga decided to get out of there and ran down a street. No one bothered to chase after him.

Ranma looked at Akane. "By the way Akane, some guys were talking about getting rid of me so they could have you."

Akane frowned. "I guess some of the Hentai Horde just changed approaches this time around. Any idea who they were?"

"There were five of them, and they didn't say who they were or anything, but they had mallets that made the ground blow up."

Akane couldn't place any names or faces to that description, and she knew in her vision no one else did anything during Ranma and Ryoga's first fight so she wasn't given an answer from there. "I don't know anyone like that, but we'll find them and make sure they don't try anything like that again."

"It's her! The demon I told you all about!" Kuno shouted once he saw the female Ranma.

Instead of the reaction he expected, which was everyone taking arms against her, the crowd looked annoyed. "Yeah right man, you said the same thing about the Chinese girl in Ranma's class. Why should we believe you?" One of the students asked skeptically.

"I'll prove it." Kuno said, brandishing his bokken then charging at Ranma. Akane stepped in and hit him extra-hard with her mallet, sending him flying and hopefully far enough to land in the next district.

"That idiot. It was bad enough when he made all those boys assault me, now he does this? I'm this close to transferring schools because of him." Akane vented. 'And knowing what's to come at Furinkan later, transferring doesn't sound like such a bad idea right now. But for now, I need to think up a way to get Nabiki to stay out of Ranma's business. Maybe Shampoo could help me if she's still got some Amazon tricks up her sleeve.'

* * *

That night Nabiki was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of swimming in money like she once saw a Disney character do when she was a child. She sure was happy, until suddenly the money started to feel a little damp.

Nabiki began to wake up but the damp feeling didn't go away. 'What the...?'

'Click'

Now more aware, Nabiki turned towards her door where she saw Shampoo with fox features grinning and holding a camera. "Gotcha."

"What are you-?" Nabiki started but felt something she knew she shouldn't. Her blanket had been removed exposing her, fortunately she was wearing pajamas, but her waist was visibly wet as were her sheets. And with her desk lamp on it was an obvious site. "What the hell? How did I...?"

"Shampoo use pressure points on you. One warning Mercenary Girl, no get involved in Airen's business. Or else all school see photos."

"You're blackmailing me?" Nabiki asked, not sure if she should be more shocked or offended.

Shampoo managed to look quite predatorial in her grin right then. "How like taste own medicine?"

Now Nabiki was glaring. "Give me the camera and negative and you'll get to walk away in one piece."

Shampoo did not look the least bit daunted. "What can _you_ do to Shampoo?" She then left the room triumphantly.

'Oh, it is on now bitch.' Nabiki thought before getting to her closet and dresser only to find her night clothes and underwear had been completely cleared out. And later she would find the place where they kept the spare sheets was empty too.

* * *

The next day it was rather rainy, so Ranma and Shampoo stayed inside and only went out with umbrellas that had been bought for them by Akane and Cologne. Throughout the day little happened, but Akane did notice that her sister was in a particularly foul mood and brought it up around the others at lunch time.

"Oh that?" Shampoo asked. "Oh it nothing. Shampoo just torment Mercenary Girl last night."

"You did what?" Ranma and Akane asked in tandem.

Shampoo nodded. "I make Akane's sister embarrass herself and get proof. If she try something we no like, we show school photos. She not only one that has camera."

Akane was a bit humored by the irony of this, but for the most part she was worried. "You better be careful Shampoo. Nabiki can be quite vindictive when she wants to be and I've never seen anyone one-up her in a way she didn't bounce back from. If you're not careful, you could be in big trouble."

Shampoo just shrugged it off and took a bite of her lunch, which was a simple sandwich with orange slices on the side today. "Shampoo prepared for trouble. All martial artists are."

Ranma nodded, but Akane looked apprehensive. 'Strange, they're both so certain they can handle anything Nabiki throws at them.' "Tell me something, are you confident that you can handle anything Nabiki throws at you, or confident that since she's not a martial artist she's not a threat?"

"Shampoo know she not need be martial artist to be threat. But Shampoo trained for more than just martial artist opponents. Sometimes you face opponent that fight without fist or sword, but with tricks."

"Well, yeah my sister couldn't ever hope to beat the crap out of you, but she can make you miserable if she wants. One time in my vision she was competing with a cheapskate over who could create the largest bill and stick the other with it, I swear the fear I felt watching that physically hurt." Akane mentioned.

Shampoo just shrugged. "Good luck doing that to me. Great-grandmother have tricks too."

* * *

The day went by but Nabiki had yet to make a move. When school ended the rain had yet to cease. Of course only two students minded. Technically three, but Akane couldn't to the same degree Ranma and Shampoo did.

At the entrance though the two ignored it and pulled out their umbrellas from their lockers. Shampoo opened hers ahead of time and quickly noticed something. Her umbrella had thin cuts in it, ones that would surely leak and drip water on her in a matter of seconds.

"Airen?" Shampoo called.

"Yeah?" Ranma replied.

"Is you umbrella good?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

Shampoo showed him her problem by sticking a finger thru her own. "Shampoo's no good now."

"Here, you can share mine." He offered.

Shampoo perked. "Really?" She had been told that to the Japanese only couples shared umbrellas.

He nodded. "Can't let you get wet now can I?"

"Umm Ranma, maybe you should check your own umbrella first?" Akane offered, finding herself strangely not bothered by the thought of these two sharing an umbrella. By now it was clear Shampoo was no threat to her own relationship with Ranma, so Akane found herself not really minding the Chinese girl anymore.

Ranma opened his umbrella and inspected it. "Hey, mine has cuts too."

Curious, Akane checked her own. "So does mine." A flash of realization hit her. "Nabiki, it has to be Nabiki."

"Great, we either wait for the rain to stop or transform in front of everyone." Ranma groaned.

"And I bet even if we can go out there dry Nabiki's waiting to get you two wet still." Akane thought out loud.

"So what do we do?" Ranma asked.

Akane thought it over and got a sneaky idea. "Simple. We just don't go out front."

The two martial artists quickly got the implication, and with satisfied grins of their own went away from the front of the school and to the roof. Stepping out into the rain they all got wet and the first levels of their curses triggered, with Ranma becoming a girl and Shampoo becoming a fox-girl. Ignoring that, Ranma grabbed Akane and she and Shampoo roof-hopped away from the school before Nabiki could trap them.

Akane was marveled at experiencing this form of transportation. She could only remember one time Ranma took her roof-hopping in her dream, and ironically it was the time she had lost her memory to Shampoo's 411 shampoo. And during that experience she was terrified.

Right now she was enjoying the ride. Sure, she would prefer it was drier and Ranma was more masculine, but it was still fun. And she was amazed that despite how sleek the roofs had to be because of the rain neither Ranma or Shampoo faltered in their landings or jumps. It was like to them slippery simply did not exist.

In no time at all they reached the Tendo home. When they got there though they saw something unexpected. Not dangerous or odd, just unexpected. They saw a small dog scratching at the door, whining and hoping someone would let it in out of the way. Judging by the mud on it, it probably had been out here for a while or had rummaged for some food in the trash but found none.

"Dog?" Shampoo asked, getting behind Ranma. Her fox instincts didn't care much for an animal often trained to hunt her down.

Akane came up to it. "Maybe it belongs to one of the neighbors. It wouldn't be the first time one came by." The dog saw Akane and just stared at her. Not being an expert on animals, Akane wasn't sure what breed it was, but it looked like a miniature breed of what she knew as a collie. "Here dog, here boy, or girl." The youngest Tendo called gently, offering her hand out. The dog rolled its eyes but came up to her, allowing Akane to see a collar on it. "There's a tag. It says..." She stopped, her eyes wide.

"It says what?" Ranma asked.

Akane looked at the redhead. "Saotome."

No one said a word, just exchanged looks between each other and the canine. "That dog has my name on it?" Ranma asked.

"That's what it says Ranma." Akane said, but before she could read the rest of the inscription aloud, the dog got out of her reach and tried to jump on Ranma, unable to get above her knees due to its size.

Shampoo yelped and jumped onto the wall enclosure, hoping the dog wouldn't reach her. "What dog want?"

"I don't know." Ranma said, trying to get the dog off her. "Down! Sit! Stay!" The dog stopped pawing at her and barked, then actually gestured to the door. "You want in?" Ranma asked, and to her surprise the dog nodded. "Umm... Akane, did anyone in your dream have a dog curse?"

"What? No. There was girl, panda, cat, pig, duck, and minotaur-thing, but no one turned into a dog. You think this dog is a person?"

"All I know is no ordinary dog nods to a question." Ranma said, then looked back at the dog. "Does the word Jusenkyo mean anything to you?" The dog barked and nodded. "We got a cursed victim here."

Feeling better, Shampoo got down off the wall. "But who?"

"Let's find out." Akane offered, opening the door. The dog went in ahead of them all and shook itself dry, sending mud and water everywhere. "Bad dog!" Akane quickly scolded, but the dog just ignored her.

"Kasumi won't like this." Ranma commented, looking at the mess.

The statement reminded Akane of something that had been bothering her. In her vision Kasumi had done all of the housework except for some reconstruction when needed, and in truth she had been doing the majority of it even before Akane's dream. While her vision made her feel bad about her neglect of Ranma, Akane had come to realize he wasn't the only one she was blind to. Kasumi deserved a chance to have a better life too, and this time Akane would get the residents to help out. Heck maybe this would get Soun out of his funk better and Nabiki would have to take a break from some of her projects.

"I doubt she's here otherwise she would have let the dog in." Akane said, wiping some wet hair off her face. "Ranma, you take the dog to the furo. Shampoo, can you help me clean this?"

They nodded and Ranma led the dog that bore his name for some reason. She opened the door after ensuring the Occupied sign wasn't up, and even knocked to be extra sure. No response, so she went in. As expected, it was empty, but in the Tendo house you couldn't be sure until you were there.

Ranma turned on the water for the furo and adjusted the temperature for warm enough to change but not too warm to be comfortable in. "Any moment now you'll be normal again." She said to the waiting dog.

Soon the furo was full enough and the dog dove in. Only then did Ranma realize she forgot two important details, that she had no idea what the gender of this person was and the fact they didn't have any clothes to wear once human.

Too late to correct the mistake, a human emerged from the water. It was a girl with long flowing black hair with a moss-green tint to it, cut almost exactly like Shampoo's but maybe longer and with no buns on the scalp. She looked the same age as Kasumi, maybe a year older, though with her being in the tub it was hard to tell how tall she was. Her eyes were red-orange, and her apparent breasts were like Kasumi's too but a little bit smaller than Kasumi but bigger than Nabiki.

Ranma backed away in shock. "Who are you?"

"I'm Haruna Saotome. Now please tell me, where is my cousin Ranma Saotome?"

_(Q)Which anime and character does Ryoga's new curse remind you of? Get a cyber-cookie if you guess right._  
_(Q) Which anime was the inspiration for Haruna Saotome? Get a second cyber-cookie as well. Don't worry, they taste as good as they sound._


	14. Chapter 13

_First answer is Fruits Basket. Second answer is the Haruna from Negima._

Chapter Thirteen

"Wait, you're my cousin?" Ranma asked.

"Are you Ranma Saotome?" The girl calling herself Haruna Saotome asked back. "Wait, you can't be. My cousin was a boy last time I saw him."

"I _am_ Ranma Saotome. Who are you? I don't have a cousin. I've never seen you before in my life." Ranma replied.

"The Ranma I knew was a boy, not a girl." Haruna said, covering her breasts with her arms.

Ranma frowned in annoyance. "You've been to Jusenkyo right? Didn't you stop to think for a moment maybe I did too?"

Haruna looked surprised at that claim. "I... you have a point there. You're really Ranma? Son of Uncle Genma and Aunt Nodoka?"

"Genma's my old man's name, but I don't know anyone named Nodoka."

"You don't know your mother's name?" Haruna asked, confused.

"I don't know a thing about my mother. For all I know she's dead." Ranma said, trying not to sound upset by the theory.

"Trust me, she's not dead. I spoke to her a few weeks ago. She's the one who asked me to come here in the first place."

"What?" Ranma asked, not expecting that.

Haruna nodded. "Yeah, she had been getting letters from Uncle Genma on how your trip was going but last summer they just stopped. She asked me to come here in case Mr. Tendo got any from him since they were good friends."

"But then... why didn't she come here?" Ranma asked, not knowing what else to say.

"She's got her hands full with a student she's been teaching. Aunt Nodoka needed something to do while waiting for her husband and son to come back after all, so she took in a student to teach as well. They just haven't been traveling around. Not much anyway." Haruna answered.

"Please, can I see her?" Ranma asked.

"Can I get dry and dressed first?" Haruna asked.

Ranma got to her feet. "Oh right. Where's your clothes?"

"Probably outside and covered in dirt. The rain caught me off guard so I slipped and fell in some mud on the way here."Haruna answered.

"I'll go get them. Wait here." Ranma offered before leaving the furo room.

'This trip sure got more interesting.' Haruna thought as she dried off.

* * *

"So who is it Ranma?" Akane asked when she saw her fiancee come back. She and Shampoo had gotten most of the mud and dirt cleaned up by now. Right now Akane was scrubbing the floor while Shampoo was finishing the walls.

"It's a girl who says she's my cousin."

"Cousin?" Akane asked, bolting upright. "But... you never had any family visit in my dream, except for your mother."

"Well this time one is." She told her. "Her clothes are supposed to be outside."

Akane looked outside and saw it was still raining. "They're probably soaked by now. I'll go get some of my clothes for her to wear until they're cleaned."

"Better use Kasumi's, I think they'd fit better." Ranma told her.

"Is she Kasumi's age?"

Ranma shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't even know I had a cousin. But she did look like Kasumi's height so I'd go with that."

"Alright then." Akane said as she went upstairs.

Before Ranma could go outside, Shampoo came from outside back in carrying some clothes in her hands. "It's okay Airen, Shampoo got clothes. No need you get more wet."

"But now you're wet." She told her.

Shampoo handed the redhead the wet clothes she assumed had belonged to Haruna. "Shampoo no mind. Just water." She then began take off her school uniform right in front of her.

"Shampoo..."

"What? Is wet and dirty too. Why no clean too?" The lavender-haired girl asked as she handed the redhead her outfit, wearing nothing but a light green bra and panties before him shamelessly.

"Alright, but get dressed quickly. I think I still have that spare set of your clothes you left in my room, if no one moved it." She told Shampoo, blushing but not looking away from her.

Ranma and Shampoo went upstairs only to be intercepted by Akane and Haruna dressed in one of Kasumi's yellow dresses but lacking an apron. Akane immediately looked at Shampoo with wide eyes. "Ranma, why is Shampoo half-naked?"

"Her clothes got wet in the rain." She calmly told her.

"And this doesn't bother you?" Akane asked. 'The Ranma in my dreams could barely maintain look in the direction of a naked girl, and this Ranma gets flustered when I even offer kissing. How is henot bothered by this? Does he just like her more?'

"She did this practically every day on the trip back from China. At first I could barely even look at her, but I got used to it I guess." Ranma told Akane.

"That's it? Simple as that?" The youngest Tendo asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" The pigtailed girl told her.

'Is that all I had to do? Just show him my body until he got used to it then he'd be more comfortable around me? Why couldn't I have known that sooner?' Akane asked herself.

"And who is this exotic girl here?" Haruna asked, also looking at Shampoo. "Nice ears by the way."

Shampoo was about to thank her, but she noticed the collar that Haruna was still wearing. "You dog?" She asked nervously.

"Not right now I'm not. And even if I was I doubt my little body could actually catch a fox like you."

"Could you please tell us who you are." Akane requested.

"Oh right, I really should. Why don't you go get your family while these two dry up and return to normal, then we can all hear my little story?" Haruna offered.

No one objected.

* * *

It didn't take long to get everyone gathered in the same room where the Tendo's had most of their family meetings. Ranma and Shampoo were both in their original forms with Shampoo wearing a silk cheongsam she left in Ranma's room for times like this. Haruna was back in her normal clothes, a brown jacket over a white blouse and a navy blue dress. She looked a lot like Kasumi if she wore an open jacket instead of an apron.

The first person she looked at was the older Saotome. "Wow Uncle Genma, you actually got balder."

"So you're my brothers daughter? You've sure grown a lot since the last time I saw you. When was that, twelve, thirteen years ago?" Genma replied.

"You have a brother?" Akane asked, understandably surprised. Her dream had never even hinted at Genma's family besides Ranma and Nodoka.

Genma nodded. "Yeah I have an older brother. He's called Ryoten Saotome and he lives in central Tokyo with my sister-in-law Toki. Or at least they did last time I saw them."

"Yeah Mom still lives there. But sadly Dad died three years ago." Haruna told him.

Genma looked quite surprised. "Really?"

Haruna nodded. "We tried to contact you when it happened, but you had already left the country by then. You should really visit his grave if nothing else as soon as you can."

Genma solemnly nodded. "Indeed. Ryoten was a good brother. How did he die?"

"He was crushed by a falling building during a bad earthquake. At least it was painless." Haruna answered with closed eyes and a sorrowful voice.

"How did you know to come here to find your uncle?" Akane asked.

"I come here occasionally to see Aunt Nodoka but this time she wasn't home. I called her to ask where she was and she gave me this address." Haruna answered.

"Wait, Nodoka told you to come here?" Genma asked. Haruna nodded. 'How did she know I was here already? I haven't told her yet.'

"No one's come by lately." Soun said, then looked to Genma. "Who's Nodoka?"

Genma looked surprised. "You forgot my wife Soun?"

Soun then hit his palm with his fist in realization. "Oh yeah, now I do. Sorry but it's been years so the name must have slipped my mind. Can you still recall my wife's name?"

"Kimiko. Maiden name Takahashi." Genma told his friend.

Soun closed his eyes and slumped in defeat.

'Losing a battle of wits to Mr. Saotome, somehow that sounds insulting.' Akane told herself.

"Wait, you came here to see my mom?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah, I do it all the time. Mom's often busy in the lab so I have a lot of free time. I'm just glad I was told to come here, who knows where I'd be now if I couldn't get out of the rain." Haruna told him.

"Umm Haruna, could you maybe not tell Nodoka about Ranma's curse? She might take it the wrong way." Genma requested.

Haruna looked at her uncle. "Why? She knows about mine. Why would his bother her?"

Genma was wide-eyed. "You have a curse?"

Haruna nodded. "Got it when we were researching Jusenkyo two years ago. I fell into the Xiaoquannichuan, Spring of Drowned Small Dog, which is actually one of the most recent springs made there."

"Researching Jusenkyo?" Ranma asked.

Haruna nodded. "Yes, you must realize that Jusenkyo is quite a mysterious and fascinating place we still have much to learn about. Not to mention the curses themselves give us golden opportunities to learn about other lifeforms directly. I could tell you so much about what it's really like to be a dog if you wanted."

"At least you don't turn into a cat." Ranma told her.

"Ah, not a cat person are you Ranma?"

"He's probably the furthest thing from cat person you could get." Akane replied for her fiancee.

Haruna glanced at Shampoo for a second. "Let me guess, he prefers foxes."

Shampoo leaned affectionately against the pigtailed boy. "Shampoo hope so."

**"What curse is that? I don't recall fox-girl being on the list?"** Haruna asked in Chinese.

Shampoo was quite surprised. **"You can speak Chinese?"**

**"Of course. Who goes to a foreign country and doesn't bother trying to learn the language?"** Haruna asked back.

Shampoo pointed to Genma. **"That guy there."**

Haruna looked at Genma for a moment then back to Shampoo. **"But tell me, what is your curse?"**

**"I got hit with water from two springs at the same time. One from the Drowned Girl Spring and the other from the Drowned Pet Fox Spring. As you can see they mixed for me, but I can make it work easily. Watch." **She then shifted into her pure fox form.

Haruna dropped her jaw at the transformation. "That's impossible. How did she change without cold water?"

"Let's just say our curses have a bit of a fluke to them." Ranma said before he turned into a she without water. Then she turned into a female centaur for full effect before turning back into a normal girl and then back into a boy.

"This is astounding! And you and the Chinese girl both have two cursed forms instead of one? I've never seen that before. How did you get a second form?"

"I fell in the girl spring and quickly jumped into the horse spring by accident when I was looking for the man spring."

Haruna looked confused. "But that would result in a single mixed curse, not two separate curse. That's what happened to all the test subjects."

"Airen say our curses have flukes." Shampoo pointed out.

"Please tell me everything about these flukes." Haruna begged, looking like a kid who wanted to open their Christmas presents early.

"Later. I want to know about my mom." Ranma told her firmly.

Haruna nodded. "I understand, but I think it would be better for you to see her yourself. I'll let her know you're here next time I see her." She then snapped her fingers. "Better yet I'll give you her address."

Genma looked nervous. "Umm Haruna, it might be better if you didn't do that yet."

"Why Mr. Saotome?" Akane asked, knowing his answer but hoping this was one thing the dream had been wrong about. "Why can't Ranma go see his mother? I mean it's not like you made some sort of promise to her where Ranma had to be some sort of man among man or else perform seppuku, right?" She phrased it rhetorically to hide the fact she knew it was for real.

Genma looked like he had seen a ghost. "How did you know that?"

All eyes were on him. "Wait, you did that?" Haruna asked.

Unable to avoid it, and no water in sight to turn him into an inaudible animal, Genma was forced to admit his secret. "Yes, I did. In order to get my wife to agree to the training trip I had to vow that thru my efforts Ranma would become as manly as she expected and should he fail to meet her standards we would both commit seppuku with her as our second."

"YOU WHAT?" Ranma and Haruna yelled.

'I'm starting to hate being right sometimes.' Akane thought.

Genma tried not to show weakness. "Ranma, if the curse wasn't a problem would you believe you weren't able to meet the requirements of the deal?"

"That's not the point? Why would you make such a promise? And how can you expect me to keep it? I didn't make any such deal so count me out!"

Genma cleared his throat. "Actually Ranma, since you were three at the time it was easy to trick you into signing a written agreement so you're bound to it. Just be glad I signed it too so we're both gonna suffer the same fate."

Everyone except Soun, yes including Kasumi, was directly some KI at the bald martial artist at that. "You tricked your own son into signing a promise he clearly could not understand and you except him to keep it?" Kasumi asked, feeling a rare sense of anger in her. "And your wife intends to uphold him to this as well?"

"What the fuck was Aunt Nodoka thinking?" Haruna asked. No one scolded her for her language.

Shampoo in fox form came up to Genma and bit his leg hard. "Yowch! Let go!" She refused and no one bothered to stop her.

"Genma, this is quite a revelation you've given us." Soun stated, for once being the calm one in the room. "With this in mind, I believe it will affect the deal you and I made."

Akane immediately looked at her father. "What?" She asked, worried more than anything.

"Akane, I will not let you marry someone only to become a widow if this were to happen. It would not be fair to you."

"I see your point, but what if him marrying me actually helps convince her that he is manly? Besides, once Ranma becomes my husband then his life isn't just his anymore but it's mine too." She then glanced to Ranma before he could object and gently held his hand. "Just like how my life would be his once I become his wife."

Shampoo released Genma and sat in Ranma's lap as Akane returned her attention to her father. "Besides, mother or not this woman hasn't had any interaction with Ranma for thirteen years. I don't think she should just be given authority over his right to live solely because she's his mother. That's not enough. We know Ranma better than she does, so who is she to decide if he's 'good enough' to keep living?"

"But there's still the matter of honor to consider." Genma pointed out. "Going back on a written deal is not honorable."

Akane glowered at her potential father-in-law in that way every male compared to kryptonite. "Mr. Saotome, don't you dare pretend that you've honored every promise you've made. Or do I have to remind you of the Kuonji's?"

Genma jerked back as if stabbed. "How did you know about that?"

Nabiki looked at her sister. "Okay Akane, tell me where you're learning these things. You obviously knew about the seppuku thing since there's no way that was just a random guess. You knew Kuno had a sister before I even did." Nabiki asked Kuno about that the next day and was surprised to know Akane had been right about that. "And you even agreed to a polygamous relationship with Ranma and Shampoo. What is going on with you?"

Akane sighed. "You want the truth?"

"Yes." Nabiki stressed.

"Fine, here's the truth. The night before Ranma arrived, I had a dream. In that dream I saw him arrive and what our engagement could have been like. I saw Ranma's curse, I saw Shampoo, I saw the third girl that will come here wanting to be Ranma's wife, I even saw the seppuku pledge."

"You're saying you saw the future in a dream?" Nabiki asked, skeptical.

Akane nodded. "My dream wasn't 100% accurate. Ranma had only the girl curse and Mr. Saotome turned into a panda while shampoo turned into a cat. Haruna never appeared and Ranma's mother wasn't even mentioned here until our next visit to Mom's grave."

"Can you prove this?" Haruna asked. Akane nodded then gave out Nodoka's address. "Wow, that's right. But not good enough. You could have looked that up."

"How? Ranma didn't even know her name and Mr. Saotome was obviously afraid to mention anything about her."

"Maybe you could tell us something that's going to happen soon." Kasumi suggested.

Akane thought it over. "Okay, here's something that's impossible for me to know otherwise." She looked back at Genma. "You met a father and daughter who owned an okonomiyaki cart when Ranma was a kid. they were named Kuonji and the kid was named Ukyo. she was a girl but Ranma was misled into thinking she was a boy. Her father came to you asking to set up an engagement between them and at first you said no because of your promise to Dad. But when Mr. Kuonji offered the cart as dowry you reconsidered. You asked Ranma what he liked more, Ukyo or okonomiyaki, and since he didn't understand in what context you meant he said okonomiyaki. With that you took the cart and fled even though Ukyo was chasing after you saying you were supposed to take her along. The whole time Ranma was unaware of what was even going on."

Everyone looked at Genma, wide-eyed to hear this story and wondering if Akane was indeed right.

"How could you know that if you saw the future? That sounds more like you saw the past instead." Genma asked her.

"Ukyo is going to show up in the next month or so, maybe earlier. She told me the story of why she was pursuing Ranma. You robbed her family but made an official engagement deal to them at the same time. If honor was as important as you claim you wouldn't have done that. So tell me Mr. Saotome, am I right? Ranma couldn't have told me this since you never told him about the engagement. The only way I could know this is if I did see the future. Am I right?"

Genma sighed, not liking having to admit what she had accused him of but if her predictions were true then lying now would come back to bite him on the ass later. "It's true. That did happen."

Everyone was shocked and turned towards Akane. The young Tendo just leaned against Ranma. "I'm just glad now I know how to make things work between Ranma and me."

"So is that why you volunteered to take the engagement? You already were in love with Ranma?" Nabiki asked.

Akane nodded. "Yes, and I can wait for him to fall in love with me."


	15. Chapter 14

_C_hapter Fourteen

With Akane's revelation no one knew what to think. The biggest question no doubt was how was this even possible. But aside from that, everyone there who had just learned of this had questions to ask. Right now though no one had actually voiced them yet.

But of course, someone was going to start them off.

"Akane, in your vision did you ever marry Ranma?" Soun asked curiously, hoping for the best. His daughter saying she loved Ranma made him wonder how far they had gone in her dream of the future. And if she intended to go that far again soon.

Akane looked a little melancholy. "No, we didn't. But only because I woke up before I could get to that part of the vision." She then gave Nabiki a sharp look. "We _would_ have gotten married before I woke up, but _somebody_ here ruined that for me."

"What? Are you mad at me for something I didn't even do?" Nabiki asked innocently.

"You haven't done it yet, but I intend to see that you don't ever do it." Akane replied.

"What did she do?" Haruna asked.

"Me and Ranma were about to be married. Our 'loving' parents set up a wedding without informing us and had everything prepared. Ranma was caught more by surprise then I was and was a bit reluctant to it, but he had told me he loved me so I was actually willing to go thru with it. Before we could, a bunch of guests showed up with explosives and ruined the place so it had to be postponed. And those guests were given invitations by none other than Nabiki, for a price of course."

All eyes were on Nabiki who looked just as surprised as the others. "I'm... sure I had a good reason for it."

"Yeah, the same reason you do most of the stuff you do." Akane commented.

Nabiki narrowed. "Akane, this is ridiculous. You're mad at me for something I haven't even done and most likely never even will do. For that matter, how do we know you're actually telling us the truth?"

"I already proved I know things that can't be explained any other way."

"Yeah, and now that you have you could easily say anything about us to manipulate us. Prophecy has a lot of power over those that take it too seriously. Every religion is proof of that. You can't tell me the idea of using this knowledge to keep the rest of us in line for what you consider the greater good hasn't crossed your mind."

Akane nodded. "You're right, but you and I have different ideas of what the greater good is or how to get it. But if you agree to not come between me and Ranma then I'll share some information you could profit off of later."

"Alright, but give me something I can use now so I'm more convinced you mean well." The mercenary insisted.

"Something you can use now..." Akane had to think for a moment. "Okay, the gymnastics team is going to be attacked by a girl from Hebereke School named Kodachi Kuno, yes Kuno's sister. I'm sure you can find a profitable way to keep that from happening, and it's definitely important that you ensure they are protected from her."

'If Kodachi never attacks them, then I won't have to take their place in the match and Kodachi won't come here and run into Ranma and fall for him. One less problem for us.' Akane kept to herself.

"Hmm... I'll keep that in mind." Nabiki responded. 'I wonder what it is she's trying to avoid if they weren't protected. And if Kuno's sister is as careless with money as he is, she might pay more to succeed better.'

Akane suddenly remembered something and looked at her father. "Dad, did you ever make a deal with a French family so you wouldn't have to pay for a meal?"

Soun looked nervous as the memory came back to him. "Umm... yes."

"I thought so. Unfortunately they intend to collect on your debt in a few months. I'd advise you to find a way to give them the money, because I will not have a repeat of that incident."

"What happened?" Kasumi asked.

"Oh Dad here racked up a big bill in a restaurant and promised one of his daughter's would marry the heir when we were old enough, though at the time he never expected to actually have daughters. Long story short, said heir showed up demanding the debt be paid and Ranma had to pretend to be the fourth Tendo daughter to help void the deal by beating the heir in martial arts eating."

"Martial arts eating?" Everyone asked.

Akane nodded. "It's harder than it sounds and for Ranma learning to beat an expert in it was very unhealthy for him. He succeeded, but he came close to dying for it."

Genma crossed his arms sagely. "A martial artist's life is full of peril."

Akane frowned at the bald man. "Even so, that is one peril I prefer not to see my fiancee go thru." She turned to Soun. "Dad, do something about that debt. How can we claim to be an honorable family when we expect someone else to shoulder our burdens?"

"Didn't Ranma volunteer to do this?" Soun asked.

"He did, but only because we had a history of twisting his arm to make him do things for us. Ranma shouldn't have to pay rent here per say by taking bullets for us. If we can fix our own problems, we should."

"But... it was a large bill." Soun complained.

Akane looked at Nabiki slyly. "I'm sure Nabiki won't mind finding a way to raise up the money, without using Ranma to do so of course. Unless she'd like to be the one to wed a guy with a mouth big enough to swallow a watermelon whole."

Nabiki sighed. "How much was it?"

"I don't remember the exact amount, but I think 100,000 yen would be a good estimate."

"100,000 yen?" Nabiki yelled, standing up slamming her hands on the table. "You expect me to raise that much money in a few months just to cover his ass?" She pointed to Soun at the end of her question.

Akane smirked. "Would you rather be engaged to a guy whose idea of a kiss is wrapping his lips around your entire head? Because I'm off the market and I'm not letting anyone make Ranma be their stand-in. So it's either that or you or Kasumi get a hippo-mouth husband."

Nabiki grimaced but sat down. "Fine, I'll find a way. But you better help me find the quickest way to get that amount."

Akane nodded. "Sure, but taking photos of Ranma without permission is off limits. We don't need Kuno becoming a bigger problem than he already is. In my dream he once threatened to rape Ranma."

"What?" Everyone at the table asked in various volumes, none more loud than Ranma himself.

Akane nodded. "Kuno for some reason never figured out you and your girl form were the same person. One time in my dream you two were stuck on a watermelon-filled island for a few hours, and you were in your girl form. He looked at you and said that if he wanted to use force on you then no one was there to stop him. How is that _not_ a rape threat?"

Ranma looked like he wanted to throw up, and quickly left the table and room in case he was actually going to.

"But Akane, this time Kuno doesn't have an interest in girl-type Ranma. That changes a few things." Nabiki pointed out.

"Yeah, now he's out to kill Ranma in both forms. And if you encourage him I'll never forgive you Nabiki." Akane replied.

"C'mon Akane it's just Kuno-baby. How much of a threat can he be?"

"I'm not changing my mind on this Nabiki."

The clock went off reminding everyone of the time. "I should probably get started on dinner." Kasumi said getting up.

"Want me to help?" Haruna offered.

"You don't have to, but I don't refuse it." Kasumi replied before going inside the kitchen.

Haruna smiled and got up, and as she did she saw the rain had not let up yet. "Would I be imposing if I asked to stay the night? I'd really rather not risk going home as a dog. My breed isn't really bred for long walks."

"Why not? If you're part of Ranma's family I don't see why not." Akane said, seeing her still queasy-looking fiancee come back into the room.

"Thanks. And tomorrow if it's not raining I'll try to get Aunt Nodoka to come by."

Genma quickly. "Well I'd say it's time for a quick training trip boy. Go get packed."

"Oh no you don't Mr. Saotome." Akane said with a glare. "If Ranma wants to see his mom you have no right to keep him away from her."

"Stay out of this Akane. This is strictly Saotome business."

Haruna crossed her arms. "Then as a Saotome I vote that Ranma has a chance to see her tomorrow."

"I agree." Ranma added.

Haruna smirked. "Two against one, we win."

Ever the stubborn fool, Genma wasn't going to drop the matter that easily. "This isn't a democracy. I"m the adult and what I say goes end of story. Now boy go get packed we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning."

The next thing Genma knew he was hit with cold water.

"Oh I'm sorry about that. My hand must have slipped while I was getting the water for dinner measured." Kasumi said coming out of the kitchen, holding an empty glass. "Unfortunately the hot water heater isn't working so I'm afraid Mr. Saotome will have to control himself unless he wants to be outside tonight."

Genma reluctantly sat back down, looking disgraced which was rather comical for a mule. Akane meanwhile was smiling on the inside. 'So Kasumi does have a mean streak in her. This could be fun.'

* * *

The rain continued all night. No one was out on the streets even before it got late. No one except one person that was. A person holding an umbrella heading for the Tendo dojo.

'So this is where Ranma is staying. He'll never expect an attack at night.' Ryoga thought as he took in the sight of the residence when he reached it. 'The hard part then is getting inside.'

Ryoga got up to the house and checked for an opening that wouldn't risk him getting wet or triggering an alarm. Feeling bold he decided to test the front door, and found it unlocked. 'Heh, idiots.' He thought as he quietly opened the door and wet inside, folding his umbrella as soon as he was certain there was no risk of him getting wet. Getting hot water was so hard when you had no hands.

Ryoga went upstairs, looking for the room that Ranma would be in. Three of the rooms were marked with names so he decided not to look there. There were three rooms unmarked so he checked the one closest to him. By luck that was the room with Ranma and Genma, and even though Ryoga couldn't see her, Shampoo in fox form was sleeping there too in a pet bed that she had bought earlier for these sleep-overs. Genma was in mule form, as he had gotten wet before bedtime and was too tired o bother getting some hot water. Not like it was the first time he had to sleep as an animal anyway.

Ryoga grinned at seeing his rival blissfully unaware and vulnerable. Part of him felt he had to at least make Ranma regain some degree of consciousness so no one could say he attacked a man while he was sleeping, but it only lasted for a moment. Ryoga didn't care if anyone thought his methods were dishonorable; Ranma would always be worse so nothing Ryoga did could be viewed as bad by comparison. Besides, with no witnesses who would talk?

With that Ryoga snickered and readied his umbrella to crush Ranma's skull. He lifted it and then swung it down...

...only to be intercepted by a chui from his left.

"Thought you show up cow boy." Fox-girl Shampoo said with a large degree of warning in her voice. She had been sleeping lightly, allowed in the room at Akane's request to be a guard for Ryoga's soon arrival. Once she heard the door open she was alert, and the moment she saw Ryoga move she transformed and drew her own weapon.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Ryoga asked, louder than he wanted to.

"China." Shampoo said before using her free hand to hit Ryoga in the face. He was strong but so was she so the attack did hurt him though it didn't knock him off his feet.

'Looks like Ranma will have to wait, I'll get this bitch first then him.' Ryoga thought. 'But how do I avoid taking this fight outside while not alerting the entire house of what's going on?'

Rather than wait for him to act Shampoo did, and he was forced to block her chui with his umbrella. He tried to push her back but she returned the gesture and so a proverbial tug-of-war between them started. All the while Genma was roused by the noise and was not in a good mood from being woken up. So without bothering to really see his targets he just kicked them both outside like the mule he was.

Umbrella-handy already Ryoga used it to shield himself from the rain he would otherwise be exposed to. Shampoo wasn't as lucky but she was already in her primary cursed form so she wasn't worried about getting wet. They landed in the yard among the broken glass of the window, looking ready to keep fighting.

'Damn, I'm at a disadvantage with the rain going on.' Ryoga thought. 'I can't fight her and keep the rain away at the same time for long, and if I go inside the odds are likely I'll run into somebody else now before I can get back to Ranma.'

"I'll be back. You can't guard Ranma forever." Ryoga declared before attempting to jump over the wall and out of the yard.

Unfortunately for the lost boy Akane was up and alert and ready to reenact a scene from her dream by throwing a weight at him, which connected with the back of his head. And like in the dream the impact made him drop his umbrella, exposing him to the rain. Knowing he had only seconds before the rain, being a slow trigger for the course compared to lots of water all at once, Ryoga jumped over the wall, trying to get away while he still had the chance.

Not five feet away from the wall on the other side Ryoga finished transforming, becoming the kind of cow you'd expect to see on any farm. He tried to run but Shampoo was faster, having climbed on his back and taken his short horns to redirect him.

"Shampoo handle bad cows back home. You no match for me." She said while making him head back to the Tendo home. He tried to stop rather than go back, but she whipped him with her palm to keep him going.

At the front door Akane was waiting for them. "I knew he'd appear."

"What we do with him?" Shampoo asked.

"Tie him up. In the morning we'll send him to one of those dairy farms. Let them deal with him."

Ryoga panicked at the idea of spending the rest of his days as a cow, being milked and likely forced to breed more cows, maybe even made into beef. With a 'Oh hell no!' attitude he reared up all of a sudden disrupting Shampoo's balance before bucking like a rodeo bull to get her to fall off.

Unfortunately Shampoo could only hold on for so long without some kind of rope or restraint to give her leverage. Fortunately she didn't need to for her great-grandmother had taught her a simple trick to stopping rowdy cattle. She swiftly poked the back of Ryoga's head, hitting the cow version of the shiatsu sleep spot, forcing Ryoga to halt and collapse, eyes swirling before he closed them.

"That take care of that." Shampoo exclaimed as she stepped off the lost boy, or maybe lost bovine at the moment.

"But where do we put him now?" Akane asked, still standing in the doorway to avoid getting wet.

Shampoo put a hand on her chin as she thought it over, then snapped her fingers. "Got any rope?"

* * *

'Where am I?' Ryoga asked himself when he woke up, the one thing he couldn't go a day without asking himself. "Mooo..." He said when he tried to speak. 'Great, I'm still a cow.'

Ryoga climbed up on his feet, or hooves to be precise, and immediately noticed he had been laying in muddy grass, his supply pack and umbrella next to him. After getting his eyes to focus he saw the Tendo house in front of him, but it was the backside meaning he was in their backyard. 'I'm still here? Well not for long.' He tried to walk off but felt a choking sensation around his neck. 'What the hell?' Turning around, he discovered he was roped to a tree.

"So you're awake." Akane's voice was heard. He turned and saw her in her jogging outfit holding a kettle. "Here's the deal Hibiki, you quietly leave and never come back here uninvited again and I'll allow you to do so as a human. I'll even sweeten the deal and promise that in the future if you show up by accident you'll be treated civilly and given hot water if you need it. Refuse, and you'll stay right there until after we make some calls to Kobe. What's it going to be?"

Ryoga snorted, flaring his nostrils, but ultimately he bowed his head.

"Good boy. Now remember, if you want to fight Ranma you're not doing it here. And if you ever actually try to kill him you better get lost for good because I'll turn you into steaks myself once I catch you." Akane threatened, knowing that Ryoga couldn't actually kill her fiancee but she felt she had to make that threat clear. The whole 'Stop picking on Ryoga' mentality had done a 180 and became 'Stop picking on Ranma', and like in the dream she was not afraid to act on it.

Ryoga snorted again which Akane took as confirmation. "Good. I hope you've got clothes in your pack because there's only one guy I want to see naked and you're not him." She said before pouring the hot water on his head then turning around before the change started.

Akane went back inside and changed into her school uniform. When she came back downstairs she saw Ryoga, human and clothed, wandering around inside. "You're still here?"

"Where's the front door?"

Akane facefaulted.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"See? This isn't so bad Ranma." Akane told the boy next to her as they walked thru the market. It was a sunny Sunday, bright skies that in no way made one think winter was on its way. Taking Tofu's advice Ranma was making an effort to spend some time alone with Akane each week. It wasn't like he had anything better to do given it wasn't a school day and Haruna was trying to get ahold of Nodoka, but he looked like he was outside his comfort zone.

"It's shopping Akane. How can girls call this fun?" He complained.

"Because you can see what's available and feel the thrill of hunting for a good price." She explained.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Shopping is what you do when you run out of what you already have, not just for the heck of it. The only thing about shopping that's fun is getting it over with."

"You are such a boy." Akane told him, this time it was a compliment though, not an insult. She even said it with a smile.

"A boy that's never been allowed to buy anything." He added.

That made Akane drop her smile. "Seriously? You've never bought anything for yourself."

"I've never bought anything for anybody. Pop's wallet was locked up tighter than a Yakuza's safe. Why do you think I had to fight Ucchan for okonomiyaki each morning? Because I couldn't afford it."

Akane's eyes widened. "Really? You've never even been able to buy yourself a candy bar on occasion?" 'No wonder he never turned away Shampoo's and Ukyo's food offerings in the dream. He was probably taught by his father to never refuse free food.'

Ranma shook his head. "Nope, Pop made every decision with money. And we didn't have a lot so if it wasn't necessary, or alcoholic, then it wasn't worth spending a yen on. So excuse me if I don't see shopping as something to do just because you can."

Akane carefully looped her arm around his, allowing her to lean on him comfortingly. "Sorry Ranma, sometimes I forget you didn't grow up in the same lifestyle I did. Sometimes I forget you were raised on the road and in the wild and all over Japan and China, not in a home going to school and being like the rest of us in school."

"Even with the dream?" He asked, somewhat in jest.

Akane slowly nodded, then tried to cheer herself up with an idea. "Well for once let me show you what you do when you can shop for things other than supplies. I'll treat you to one thing you want just for the fun of it, as long as it's affordable of course. You name it, but it can't be something you just need to replace. Come on, think of something."

Ranma looked up and put his free hand on his chin. "Anything you say?"

"Yep. Within reason of course."

"How about some ice cream?"

Akane was shocked and came close to laughing. "Out of all the things you could have requested, you chose ice cream?"

"You said anything and it sounds good." He justified.

"I didn't say no Ranma. You just surprised me." The young Tendo replied. "You sure that's what you want?" He nodded. "Alright, but eat it in your boy form. No using your girl form to weasel free treats out of weak-willed vendors."

"Hey if they're dumb enough to give away free food just because a girl smiles at them they deserve to have it come out of their pay." He replied.

"I guess you've got a point."

The young couple bought some ice cream cones, Akane got neopolitan while Ranma got chocolate chip, they ended up walking past a lot with a fence around it.

"You're Furinkan High students I presume." A girl's voice was heard on the other side of the fence.

Ranma and Akane bought looked towards the source, since they wondered if someone was referring to them, and immediately Akane realized what was going on.

"Oh great. It's her, Kuno's sister." She commented in disgust.

"How can you tell?" Ranma asked since they could only see her from behind. He saw a ponytailed girl wearing a beige school uniform, standing before three girls wearing yellow gym shirts and red gym shorts, brandishing gymnasts clubs and covered in bandages, but not as much as Akane remembered from the dream. This time they didn't look like mummies.

"Trust me, it's her, Kodachi Kuno. I remember this part of the dream very well. Just try not to let her see you Ranma, or she might fall in lust with you today." Akane warned, bothering Ranma greatly. He didn't know the girl, but he didn't need Akane's vision to know dating Kuno's sister had about as much appeal to him as being given an enema.

"We need not rush this." Kodachi warned the girls before her as she moved to sit on her knees, unzipping her handbag. "The gymnastics competition isn't until next week." From out of the bag she withdrew a dark purple ribbon and got back on her feet, and the look on her face made the rival gymnasts get defensive. "Is it not?"

"What arrogance." The gymnast at Kodachi's right insulted.

"How can you say that? Don't pretend you don't know." The one right in front of her added.

"You're the reason we can't be in the contest." The one at Kodachi's left claimed. "Ambushing us before the tournament."

'I wonder if I have to step in for them again.' Akane wondered. 'If so, can I actually do it this time?'

"Ambushing before the tournament?" Ranma repeated to himself.

Akane nodded. "Yeah, Kodachi's got a thing for weakening the competition before the official fight can start."

Ranma frowned. "She's gotta be a coward then. Sounds like she's afraid she can't win any other way."

"I've never seen her win a fight so you may be right." Akane added.

Back in the lot the group of girls had yet to notice they had an audience. All three girls from Ranma and Akane's class were ready to take down Kodachi, who looked just as ready to fight them off. "Now you'll know how we felt." They said before charging in.

"Haven't you learned yet?" Kodachi rhetorically asked as she swung her ribbon, moving it like a leather whip and to Ranma's surprise it appeared to have that type of impact on the three girls.

"Wait, it's just a ribbon. How can it hurt to be hit by that?" He asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it's like with Ryoga's headbands. Or maybe it's got wires woven into it somehow to give it a harsher impact." Akane guessed.

After making the girls drop their clubs Kodachi twirled the ribbon to create a cyclone of sorts all around her. It was actually impressive to see, but confusing as hell to explain. "If you haven't..." She stopped spinning it and started hitting the girls like some sort of sadist. "This! This! This! This! This will teach you!"

"Hold this." Ranma said as he held out his half-eaten ice cream cone. Akane took it by impulse before she could ask him why, but by then her fiancee had already done what she feared he was going to.

Ranma, as a man this time, caught the ribbon and stood up to Kodachi. "Cut it out. You've already won, beating them up more just makes you look like a child."

Kodachi was surprised that someone had managed to catch her favored weapon, but even more than that she was enchanted by the man that made himself known. Being part of an all girls school, and a boring one at that in her opinion, she didn't have many opportunities to find eligible men. So few she had practically given up on trying until she someday went to college, a co-ed one no matter what her brother said on the matter. But now an opportunity had presented itself to her, so she wasn't going to just give it up without a fight.

'What a man.' Blushing coyly and smiling as sweetly as she could, which didn't have the affect she wanted it to, she addressed the pigtailed boy. "Why hello there sir. My name is Kodachi the Black Rose Kuno. May I know your name?"

"My name's not important. Why were you bullying these girls?" He told her.

"Bullying? I did no such thing. We were in the middle of a spar."

Ranma did not look convinced. "Spars are when the other side can fight back. These girls couldn't yet you kept attacking them. That's bullying in my book."

'He's virtuous, that's good. But unfortunately he's supporting the wrong side.' Kodachi told herself. "My apologies. I got carried away in my excitement." She said as she went into her bag. "As a token of my apology, please accept these." She put a bouquet of black roses in Ranma's hands.

Akane's eyes went wide and her blood went cold at the sight of those trademark flowers. "RANMA DROP THEM!"

He did, but they burst out a cloud of gas before they hit the ground and unfortunately some of it was boosted by the wind enough to get in his face, as well as the three girls behind him. Ranma fell to his knees with his body twitching, the three girls on their sides reacting the same way.

"I put paralysis powder in those flowers." Kodachi explained, looking like it was normal for her to do this sort of thing.

"What were you thinking?" Ranma asked angrily while he lost more control over his body.

Seeing red, Akane dropped the ice cream and ripped the chain link fence open, drawing Kodachi's attention. "You bitch!" Akane screamed charging at the younger Kuno.

"How unsporting of you to ambush me like this." Kodachi noted as she swung her whip-like ribbon but Akane used the fence segment to block it.

"You're one to talk Miss Fight-in-all-fairness-before-the-fight!" Akane countered when she pulled out her mallet to try and hit her.

Kodachi jumped to avoid it and landed outside the lot. "I suppose I should withdraw for now. Pity, my time with my new man was cut short and I never got to learn his name. But I will find out." She said before jumping away, using the roofs to get around much like Ranma liked to do, laughing as she did so.

"Ugh, I hate that laugh. It sounds like the Wicked Witch of the West if she were a teenage dominatrix." Akane rued, then looked at her downed fiancee and classmates. Her first priority was Ranma of course and she knelt down beside him. "You okay Ranma?" He struggled to shake his head no and could only grunt at best. "Damn, I was afraid of this. But don't worry, I'm here to help you." 'No way I'm leaving him up on a cold windy roof again with a thin blanket I deliberately refused to anchor down for him.'

She stood up and looked over all four of Kodachi's victims. "Hold on guys, I'll go get help. I'll be right back." She hated to leave them, but she had no other way to help them. So she ran off to Tofu's, hoping he could help them move again if nothing else.

* * *

Luckily Tofu was able to help move the paralyzed people to his office, with Genma and Akane helping him. This was a struggle but it took less than a half hour to accomplish and no threats came to them during the time. Tofu managed to find some of Kodachi's discarded roses and used them to synthesize an antidote, which Akane decided to keep in mind for later on, assuming Kodachi didn't use different poisons each time.

"What was going on? You're all covered in bruises." Akane asked the three girls, playing dumb.

"Akane, we got beat up. All of us." They said together, looking determined. "The entire gymnastics team."

"Why?" Ranma asked.

"We were scheduled to fight St. Hebereke in a tournament, but their star contender ambushed us and made all of us too injured to participate. We were the least hurt but we were still declared unable to participate, so we tried to do to her what she did to us."

"But it didn't work, did it?" Akane asked sympathetically.

"We're out of options now Akane. We need a new contender or else this cheater wins by default. Please Akane, you're the only one we can turn to now."

Akane was silent for a moment. "You want me to fight in the tournament for you?"

The three girls nodded in unison, one of them clasping her hands together like she was pleading. "Please Akane? You're the only one we can count on."

"Why me? I have no training for this fighting style." Akane reminded them. "It's not that I don't want to help, but-."

"But you're the strongest female martial artist at school. You're the only one who even has a chance at learning martial arts rhythmic gymnastics before the match in two weeks."

Akane got an idea. "Actually, there is someone better."

* * *

Outside the clinic, a girl in a green leotard was listening in on the conversation, until she heard someone approach.

"Can I help you?" Genma asked.

Rather than answer, the girl just silently left, and Genma saw no reason to go after her.

* * *

"Welcome to Fox Cafe." Shampoo greeted the new arrivals. "Oh hi Akane."

"Hi Shampoo. Listen, I've got a favor to ask you."

"What that?"

"How would you like to fight off a girl that wants to keep Ranma all for herself and isn't afraid to hurt him or us to get him?" Akane asked.

Shampoo almost growled despite the fact she was in full human form right then. "Have to ask?"

Akane smiled. "One problem though, you have to fight her in an official match and use the next two weeks to train in the fighting style. But if either of us can do it, you can. Maybe Ranma, but let's save that for a last resort."

"What Shampoo need do?" The Chinese girl asked.

"Come by my place tonight and we'll instruct you."

* * *

That night Shampoo came by the Tendo dojo followed by Cologne, who wanted to see what was going on. They were led to the dojo by Ranma, where they saw Akane wearing her yellow gi holding gymnastics tools.

"Glad you could make it." Akane greeted before revealing the story behind Kodachi and the gymnastics competition. "Normally I'd do it myself but I'm not exactly suited for this fighting style and I thought Shampoo would be a better choice. Interested?"

"Is there more to this?" Cologne asked.

Akane nodded. "Yes, in my dream Kodachi gained interest in Ranma, and unfortunately this time around she still has. She's going to be a bit of a pain later on, not a big one but an annoying one. I'm hoping that if we do this right maybe we can stop her early."

"What went wrong the first time?" Ranma asked.

"I tripped and sprained my ankle so I needed you to substitute for me. You did surprisingly good, but Kodachi never seemed to run out of tricks. I think the only real reason you won was because you gave yourself a terrain advantage in the ring and forced her to become disqualified. Either way, she had promised to lose interest in you, but she basically ignored that and said she had a whole new interest in you instead."

"Sounds like the type of competitor who intends to take the prize whether or not they earned it." Cologne dryly stated.

Akane nodded. "Her family doesn't exactly know when to stop so I'm not holding my breath that she will behave any differently this time, but since I was able to trap Kuno and make him at least slow down I'm hoping we can do the same here."

"What I do?" Shampoo asked, pointing at herself.

"You fight instead of me." Akane told her. "With you being a student of furinkan there's no rule that says you can't, and unlike me you're more likely to be a natural at this and avoid hurting yourself in the process. And unlike Ranma you won't have to destroy the ring to defeat her and there should be no scandal if she uses water against you. We certainly don't want Ranma turning into a boy in front of everyone wearing this now do we?" She picked up a leotard at the word 'this'.

"Good point." Shampoo said. "So who train Shampoo?"

Akane smiled. "I remember enough to give you the basics, and if we need more instructions I'll call in the team for further help."

"Sounds good. Shampoo get ready."

Akane handed her the leotard. "I hope this fits."

Shampoo went behind a privacy screen to change and came out wearing a pink leotard with pinkish-white arms and shoulders. She frowned in frustration as she adjusted the top. "Chest too tight."

Akane sighed. "I was afraid of that. Can you make due for tonight until we can get a better one tomorrow?"

"Suppose have to. Where start?"

Akane tossed her some clubs which Shampoo easily caught. "We'll start off here and work our way up from there. Since they're a lot like your bonbori in shape this should be easy for you."

"Actually, those weapons you're thinking of are called chui." Cologne corrected.

"Really? I always thought they were bonbori." Akane said, then shrugged. "Either way the principle applies. Oh, can you help keep a look out while we're training? In my dream Kodachi attacked me before the match trying to keep me out of it so she might do the same to Shampoo if she finds out."

"I'm certain Shampoo can handle herself." The old woman said.

"Maybe, but Kodachi fights about as dirty as Mousse does, only more effectively, so it's better to be on the safe side."

"I'll believe that when I see it." Cologne stated, though she was taking the warning seriously.

* * *

"Alright, that's all for today." Kodachi told the other girls in the St. Hebereke gymnastics team after they had been working all evening. Many were tired and sweaty, and stretching their sore muscles to soothe them. Yet overall the mood was good, as everyone knew with Kodachi on their side they couldn't lose the upcoming match, default or otherwise.

"Excuse me Kodachi," The girl who had been spying outside Tofu's clinic only to be caught by Genma said as she approached the ponytailed girl. "It appears Furinkan has found a substitute to fight you."

"You don't say. Who is this substitute?"

"They were talking to someone named Akane. According to my sources, a girl named Akane Tendo is well known in that school as a tough fighter."

"Akane Tendo, hmm... that name rings a bell for some reason." Kodachi muttered, forgetting that this was the girl her brother was fixated on. Normally she didn't pay attention to that so she didn't have the name committed to memory. "Perhaps I ought to pay her a visit like the rest of the Furinkan girls."

With that thought she went to her locker, which was even labeled as 'Kodachi the Black Rose' in case someone on school grounds didn't know who she was. She opened it to check on her array of weapons that had no place in a gymnastics competition, ranging from kunais to cleavers, shuriken to halberds. Grabbing a purple cloak and one of the weapons, she looked ready for business.

"Fear not Miss Tendo, I'll be dealing with you very shortly."


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"Alright Shampoo, the first rule of Rhythmic Gymnastics is that no bare attacks are allowed. Every strike you make has to be with a weapon." Akane started.

"No problem for Shampoo." The Chinese girl stated, staying in human form for the duration of training.

"Good. Now, the basic weapons to use are these clubs, ribbons, and hoops, but others can be allowed too. Heck you can even throw a live person at your opponent if you can make it happen."

"Seriously?" Ranma asked, skeptical while he twirled a club in his hands to avoid boredom.

Akane nodded. "Yeah, in my dream Kodachi grabbed her brother with her ribbon and threw him at you. The judges considered it a valid move."

"What do they consider invalid then? Throwing a septic tank?"

Akane shrugged. "I don't know, and I hope we don't have to find out."

Shampoo inspected the approved weapons. "No look like much."

"It's all in how you use them. Besides, your goal is to beat into submission or knock out of the ring, not maim or anything like that. And you have to look dazzling and graceful like a gymnast while doing it. Though your opponent certainly won't have any problems making you bleed."

"For now let's focus on using them. Remember put less power in them then you do your chui or sword." Cologne advised.

"You know anything about this fighting style?" Akane wondered.

"I've seen a lot in my 300 years. This sport wasn't invented yesterday you know. There's even a form of it in China too. I never participated in it myself because let's face it, no one wants to see this old lady in a leotard." Cologne replied. All three teenagers looked grossed out by the mental image of Cologne dressed in such wear. "But I understand the gist of it all and will help as I can. Doesn't mean finding out the official rules and strategies is inappropriate though for either of us."

Akane nodded. "Good point, but tonight let's focus on Shampoo. Remember this isn't just about the fight itself, you need to put on a show for the audience and move like a gymnast in the process. If you fight like normal you might be disqualified."

"Gotcha." Shampoo said with a nod. "So how use weapons?"

Akane grabbed some clubs. "I'll spar with you for a bit tonight. Not the best but this should at least get you familiar with them."

Shampoo took some clubs too. Akane held her clubs over her head Shampoo resorted to holding them like when she had two chui on her. Akane came at her and Shampoo did the same, with Akane first attacking with a club strike. Shampoo deflected with one of her own and followed up with her free club to strike back, which Akane also blocked. Instinct took over and Shampoo kneed Akane in the stomach, knocking the wind out of the Japanese girl.

"Stop! Penalty!" Cologne cried, getting between the girls. "Remember Shampoo, such an attack is unallowed. Use the tools, not your body."

"Sorry Great-Grandmother, hard to remember in battle."

Akane struggled to catch her breath. "Alright... maybe Ranma should fight her... in my place."

"One hit and you're ready to call it quits? Are you sure you're really a martial artist?" Cologne challenged.

It worked. Akane's fire was relit. "I _am_ a martial artist. So yeah, I can keep going."

* * *

After two hours of practice they called it a night. Akane was sore and tired, but she felt better about herself for not giving up once. Though she felt even better after relaxing in a warm bath. Cologne went back to the cafe but Shampoo insisted on staying over.

"Crazy girl might show up. Shampoo want around in case."

Akane didn't argue, but she did ask that Shampoo at least sleep in her fox form for the night unless disturbed. 'I'm trying to be nice to her but I'm still a little territorial regarding Ranma.' Akane told herself as she went into her room after drying off and putting on some yellow pajamas. 'Now, what night did Kodachi originally ambush me again? I can't remember for sure.'

She laid on her bed and got her answer when she saw the aforementioned leotard-wearing girl on her ceiling, with a black rose in her mouth and a wooden mallet on her back. 'Oh right, this night.'

"Akane Tendo prepare to die!"

'Is she somehow related to Ryoga?' The youngest Tendo immediately jumped off her bed just moments before Kodachi came down with a hammer attack. Akane landed and took up her stance, hoping her level was enough to at least fend off her assailant. "Who are you?" She asked as a token gesture.

"Kodachi the Black Rose, of St. Hebereke's gymnastic team."

"And that's supposed to mean something to me?" Akane taunted.

Kodachi immediately swung her weapon but she missed. "I'm your opponent in next week's tournament."

'Oh, she still thinks I'm the one facing her in the match?' Akane realized while Kodachi kept swinging the mallet, then smiled. 'Perfect, if she keeps thinking that, she can't prepare for Shampoo instead.'

"Does this amuse you?" Kodachi asked, misinterpreting Akane's smile.

"Oh I just realized something, you're a coward." Akane taunted again.

Kodachi froze and her expression held a mixture of bewilderment and outrage, like she couldn't believe someone would say such a thing to her face. "What did you call me?"

"A coward. You attacked the official gymnastics teams before the official match to make them unfit for the fight and now you're attacking their replacement for the same reason. What, is victory by forfeit the only way you can win?"

Now Kodachi looked pissed. "I am no coward. I firmly believe in fighting in all fairness-"

"Let me guess, _before_ the fight itself?" Akane interrupted.

Kodachi paused for a moment. "Why yes. So you understand me then in some way."

"Oh I understand. I understand you're a coward who's terrified of losing in front of an audience so you resort to fighting your opponents when no one's watching and ensure they never can make it to the real fight, which means you win by default to the audience."

Kodachi's grip tightened on her mallet. "Victory by default is better than defeat."

"Words of someone who knows she can't win any other way." Akane stated smugly.

Kodachi was out of patience and jumped to attack again. Only to get hit flat in the face by the door opening in front of her, knocking her on her ass.

"Hey Akane, something wrong?" Shampoo asked.

"Sort of, but why are you wearing nothing but your underwear right now?" Akane asked, seeing Shampoo wear a set of hot pink bra and panties.

"Fox self in heat, too too in mood for fun with Airen." Shampoo explained.

Before the conversation could continue Kodachi got back on her feet and away from the door, hand over her nose. "Reinforcements? I was not prepared for this. I'll get you next time Akane Tendo." She then twirled her ribbon and a swarm of black rose petals filled the room, making it hard to see anything else. Kodachi slipped out of the window and escaped.

"Great, this mess again." Akane groaned at seeing her room. "But at least this time she didn't see Ranma." She paused and looked at Shampoo. "Ranma's not outside is he?"

Shampoo froze. "Not know. Shampoo go look." She went out the window to go find the boy.

"Better get started on cleaning up." Akane said before she went to go get the vacuum. Halfway there she suddenly realized something. 'Wait, Shampoo was in human form tonight. So her fox form can't be affecting her right now.'

* * *

Fortunately Ranma was downstairs and not outside so Kodachi never encountered him on the roof. And much to Akane's chagrin Shampoo still didn't fully explain her choice in late-night attire. While she knew Shampoo was less inhibited than she was, it was still hard to get used to.

The next day the trio headed to school as normal, which plans to get in touch with the gymnastics team for proper instructions for Shampoo.

"Good morning Akane." Yuka and Sayuri greeted.

"Good morning." She greeted back, stopping in place to do so.

"I heard that you'll be in the gymnastics contest." Sayuri said.

"Sort of." Akane replied.

"Sort of?" Sayuri repeated, confused.

"I'm assisting the one who will be competing, but don't let that get out to the competition." Akane clarified.

"Why?" Yuka asked.

Akane's danger sense went off. 'Someone's after me.'

"Akane Tendo prepare to die!" Kodachi shouted jumping out of a tree armed with a shinai, this time wearing her school uniform of a white blouse and beige dress-skirt. Akane managed to catch the bamboo training sword with one hand.

'I wonder if this is how Ranma felt all those times Ryoga harassed him. And why does this family settle for training swords when they fight someone? You'd think they'd use real ones if they actually wanted to hurt someone.'

"That's why." Akane told her friends.

"Kodachi?" Ranma said, hoping she didn't choose now of all times to fall in love with him instead of last night. He was glad they managed to avoid that but now he realized it could possibly just happen again at another point in time.

"You've got some nerve ambushing me before school. Maybe I should do to you what I did to everyone else who thought that was a good idea." Akane threatened.

"Sun Tzu said it is advantageous to attack when the enemy is unaware." Kodachi simply replied.

"What part of 'save it for the real contest' do you not understand?" Akane said before swinging the shinai and by default Kodachi over her head in an impressive display of strength. Using the momentum Kodachi performed a somersault in the air and landed safely on her feet, and right in front of Ranma of all places. Though before she could notice that Shampoo made him and her switch places.

Kodachi looked right at Shampoo, unaware of the switch that had just occurred. "Hey, I recognize you. You were that purple-haired girl who was in nothing but her unmentionables in Akane's room last night."

Akane turned beet red at the accusation and right away the students watching this current morning spectacle began to whisper.

"Did she say Shampoo was naked in Akane's room last night?"

"No, in just her underwear."

"So Akane _is_ lesbian, that explains a lot."

"She looks more bi to me, but you've got a point."

"ENOUGH!" Akane shouted, silencing the whispers. "Kodachi, why don'y you explain why you were even in my room last night to begin with?"

The whispers started again, this time mostly people realizing she had a point.

"I did no wrong, I was merely scoping out my opponent." Kodachi stated.

"You mean trying to take me out before I can compete. You were trying to eliminate the competition." Akane challenged.

Right about now Kuno decided he needed to make an entrance. "Akane Tendo my love please accept my-" He stopped when he saw his sister at his school. "What is going on here?"

"Kuno, did you know that your sister was trying to beat me up?" Akane asked, hoping to take advantage of his affection for once.

The kendoist was surprised, as were a good portion of the crowd at the revelation that Akane's would-be assailant was his sister, something no one knew he had. Getting into stern brother mode, he approached the ponytailed gymnast. "Sister, is this true?"

"It is part of my sport dear brother. She is my opponent in my next fight. That means I'm required to fight her with or without your approval."

"Actually Kodachi, I never actually said _I_ was your opponent." Akane pointed out.

Kodachi spun around to face the Tendo. "What?"

Akane nodded. "I was offered the role, but I declined. Whoever told you I was participating was misinformed. I don't know who you are facing, but if you have any honor at all, you'll wait until the match to find out. Or are you truly a coward who refuses to play by the same rules as everyone else?"

With so many witnesses, Kodachi felt trapped. 'Drat, if I continue my normal means I will bring shame to the house of Kuno. My only option is to give this school privacy until the match and take the advantage there.' "Fine, I will show you that the Black Rose is no coward. Attend the mach and see for yourself."

She started twirling her ribbon and from out of nowhere black rose petals began filling the air. Rather than disappear in them she merely jumped over the wall surrounding the school and went on her way, laughing her trademark laugh as she did.

"I'm really starting to dislike roses." Akane muttered. "Ranma, if you ever bring me flowers, make it anything but roses."

Ranma just shrugged, not imagining a time when he would need to do such a thing.

"Shampoo no mind, but make them red. Not black." Shampoo added, pulling a few petals out of her hair. "How you get black rose anyway? Blue Shampoo can see, but black?"

Kuno approached Akane. "Akane, are you fighting her in competition soon?"

Akane looked at him sourly. "Do you _ever_ listen to a word I say? No, I'm not."

Kuno looked relieved. "Good. I'd worry for you. I may be her brother, but I am not naive about my sister's behavior. She is sly, sneaky, and bad tempered. However, she is also by nature a twisted soul. So I am glad to know that you will not be another one of her victims Akane."

"Nope, I'm just one of _your_ victims Kuno." Akane replied.

The upperclassmen appeared to filter this out as if she had said nothing. "Though I do admit I will regret not seeing your elegance and grace in a leotard."

Akane kicked him right over the school. "Pervert!"

Ranma shout up both hands. "It's good! Touchdown!" The mood now lightened, Akane and Shampoo shared a good-natured laugh with him.

* * *

After school Shampoo stayed late to receive extra help from the gymnastics team. The more able-bodied tried their best while they still could so the teacher had to do the most of it.

Night came and she showed up at the dojo, wiping sweat off her forehead but otherwise looking fine. Though she was wearing a trenchcoat for some reason.

"Something wrong?" Akane asked.

Shampoo shook her head. "No, just not want walk around like this." She dropped the coat to reveal she was still wearing a leotard that properly fit her figure. A soft lavender one with red bordering around the legs and neck, and red short sleeves.

"I got to admit it suits you, but why not change out of it when you were done?"

"Too tired, just want come here and rest." Shampoo said before going to the furo room. After confirming no one was there she went inside.

'She's tired? How hard could this be on her?' Akane wondered.

She didn't get her answer that night, since Shampoo fell asleep in the tub and only awoke long enough to dry off and become a fox so she could be carried out.

* * *

"Hey did you hear from Haruna yet?" Akane asked Ranma as they sparred in the dojo the next night.

"Not a word." Ranma said when he blocked a kick of hers. "I wonder what's taking her so long."

"She does have a life of her own Ranma." Akane replied before throwing a fist that Ranma dodged. "Or maybe your mom just isn't available right now. I'll be honest, I have no idea just what she does all day long or for income. She might be busy."

The screen door slid open and in walked Shampoo, making them halt. Like yesterday, she was still dressed in her leotard and looked pretty tired. "Hi Airen, Akane."

"Shampoo, what's going on? I know from my dream that this sort of training cannot be all that's exhausting you." Akane questioned.

Shampoo leaned against the wall. "Schedule is rough now. School, some practice, then work at restaurant, then homework and practice more, then come here. Shampoo run ragged."

Akane quickly saw the problem. "Ah, I see. That does sound like you've got a lot to deal with. But at least the match is tomorrow." Shampoo slowly nodded. "Why not show us what you've got, if you're up to it that is."

After flexing her arms Shampoo stepped away from the wall, thankful that the necessary equipment was still there in the dojo. She picked up the clubs first and threw them spinning in the air before she caught them and continued spinning them in her hands, moving her arms a bit too in order to put on a bit more showmanship. She jumped forward like a dancer with one leg extended forward and the other backwards and the second she landed she threw the clubs at Ranma, who jumped over them to avoid a hit. The clubs hit the wall behind him and cracked the wall, embedding themselves in the wood.

"Sorry Airen." Shampoo apologized.

"That's okay." He waved it off.

Shampoo grabbed the ribbon next, a soft baby pink one in contrast to Kodachi's dark purple one, and twirled it around in front of her to build momentum before she used it like a whip to try and hit Ranma again. He jumped but she anticipated that and swung accordingly, required him to reposition himself in midair to avoid the hit.

'Why is she still attacking him?' Akane wondered.

This went on with Ranma jumping and dodging all over the room with Shampoo trying to hit him with the ribbon. It only stopped when Ranma got to the roof and held onto the rafters. "Why are you after me like this?" He asked.

"Shampoo sorry Airen, but Crazy Girl no going to stand there and let Shampoo hit her. Shampoo need more practice hitting moving target, and you dodge better than Akane."

"She's got a point." Akane said once she thought it over. "You're much more evasive than I am so she benefits more from practicing on you then someone else. If she had hit you, she stands a better chance at beating Kodachi tomorrow."

Shampoo yawned. "Shampoo have enough. Want bath and sleep."

Ranma dropped on the floor. "Better get some. You're going to need it."

* * *

The next day around noon a crowd was gathering at St. Hebereke School for the match against Furinkan High. While the audience was getting their seats and the teams from the schools were getting themselves ready, Kodachi decided now was a fair time to see who she would be facing.

"I just came by to be a good sport and wish my adversary luck in the upcoming match. But it has to be face to face, otherwise it would be insulting to her."

Akane didn't like this, but Kodachi wasn't wrong this time. But fortunately she was ready for and aware of most of Kodachi's tricks. "This girl will be your opponent."

"Nihao."

Kodachi looked her over. "You're the Chinese girl I saw the other morning. Well, I have heard marvelous things about legendary Chinese acrobats so this should prove to be an entertaining and challenging match. Let's put forth our best efforts today, shall we?"

She extended her hand for a seemingly friendly shake, but Akane was quick to grab the wrist. "Do you always carry tacks between your fingers?"

"My, how did those get there?" The ponytailed girl said in a poor pretense of innocence.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

"Excuse me, where am I?" Ryoga asked someone when he saw a crowd forming.

"This is St. Hebereke School. You here for the Gymnastics Tournament?"

"Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics or regular kind?" Ryoga added.

"The first. It's a match between this school and Furinkan High." The student answered. "You didn't know?"

"I just happened to be in the area and needed to get my bearing straight. Thanks." Ryoga said, letting the student go and he looked at the school briefly. 'Furinkan High huh? At least I know I'm in Nerima or at least close to it. Could Ranma be in there?' Right away he shook his head. 'Yeah right, Ranma having anything to do with gymnastics? Even that bad-tempered girlfriend of his couldn't make him come to something like this.'

With that he walked off, completely unaware of how wrong he was and unlikely to ever find out.

* * *

The audience was getting seated and the contestants were getting ready. Most of them were students of Furinkan or St. Hebereke, though a few were just fans of the sport.

In the changing room reserved for Furinkan, Shampoo and Akane were first inspecting the room of any traps Kodachi may have placed inside.

"Found something." Akane said from behind the privacy screen, holding a small camera that had been taped to the wood and positioned by a small hole in the screen itself. "She must have thought it would be fun to videotape you undressing and spread the footage around."

"No matter." Shampoo said before unbuttoning her silk blouse, revealing her green leotard underneath.

"Already prepared, smart thinking." Akane complimented. There was a knock at the door. "Let me get that."

Akane answered and saw one of the St. hebereke girls offering a bouquet of black roses. "Kodachi sends these. She does it every tournament as a way of saying good luck."

'Yeah, good luck to herself.' Akane snidely thought, but made a show of accepting the bouquet. Once the door closed she put them in the trashcan and tied the bag together in case there was a time-release gas bomb in it or something. Once she closed the lid the can actually jumped a bit like something inside it had burst, but no damage was shown.

"Yep, I'm really starting to dislike roses." Akane commented.

* * *

"Saotome? What are you doing here?" Kuno asked as he walked thru the bleachers to find a seat, only to spot Ranma in the audience.

"I was invited. Akane insists this is something I should see." He answered.

"You're not here to ogle my sister are you?" Kuno asked in a threatening tone, like he was certain that was exactly the case.

Ranma glared at the kendoist. "Would you ogle any of my relatives?"

"Of course not. Your family couldn't possibly have any women in it worthy of my attention." Kuno proclaimed, sounding very smug at the moment.

"I feel the same way about your family."

Kuno's eyes narrowed. "How dare you speak ill of my family."

"Kuno, believe it or not, not everyone is going to like you as much as you like yourself. And where do you get off insulting _my_ family when I'm the only one you even know?" Ranma challenged.

Kuno scoffed as if it was an insult to be asked such a thing. "Surely you reflect your family and that's all I need to know."

"So you can judge an entire family by one member? If that's true then why is it you like Akane but hate Nabiki?" Ranma countered.

"Shut up." Kuno simply replied, then left before Ranma could say more.

"Wow, nice wordplay Ranma." Nabiki said as she came up from behind him and sat down next to him. "Never thought you could argue your way out of a fight without hitting someone."

Ranma shrugged. "Pops taught me more than just martial arts, though that was like 90% of all he taught me. One thing he taught me was sometimes you should argue your way out of a fight so you can conserve your strength for a more important one later."

"Guess even the mule knows he can't fight or run from every problem." Nabiki commented.

"What are you doing here by the way?" Ranma asked.

"Are you kidding? Akane has all but promised that Shampoo will win this match. Especially if she told Shampoo what all you originally did to do it. I'd be a fool not to set up a betting pool with the odds stacked in Kodachi's favor so when Shampoo wins I reap in more yen than I can carry home by myself." The mercenary answered.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "You are aware there's a chance Shampoo can lose right?"

"That's why my betting pool works." Nabiki stated. "The betters are aware that Kodachi is the more experienced and better known of the two contestants, while Shampoo's been practicing for less than a week. The odds of winning that I set up are entirely realistic. The gamblers have no problem at all betting on Kodachi, certain she's a sure thing because they believe Shampoo's chances of losing are greater than we know them to be. Not my fault they don't have a sister that's seen the future."

"But in her vision, I fought Kodachi here, not Shampoo. So that will affect the outcome." Ranma pointed out.

"Don't you have any faith in her?" Nabiki questioned.

"Yes, but this is Kodachi's element. Shampoo will do great, but not without effort."

The lights over the ring went on, silencing them both since they figured the fight was about to start.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Rhythmic Gymnastics match between St. Hebereke High School and Furinkan High School." A female announcer told everyone while standing on the stage, pausing to let everyone cheer for a moment. "Now, if we may have your attention please, I regret to inform you that due to the vast majority of Furinkan's team being unable to participate due to injuries, we will be unable to showcase all the performances we had originally intended to."

"Huh?" Ranma asked, not the only one confused.

"It's a tournament Ranma, that means they weren't supposed to have just one fight." Nabiki clarified. "Why have an entire team if only one of them is actually going to participate? Each member was supposed to have a turn until the entire side of both teams had gone then they'd tally up the total victories to see who won."

"Yeah I know how tournaments work. I was just surprised because Akane only told us about the one match. I must have forgotten more had been originally intended." Ranma noted.

"I think she did too since she never said anything about it." Nabiki commented.

"So instead of showing several battles, we will instead be showing a single one-on-one battle between the best both schools have to offer." The announcer continued, upsetting some fans who had hoped for more than just one short fight. "And to make up for the disappointment of this being the only match, this one match will be a no-holds bar, meaning anything goes as long as the basic rules are followed."

That settled most of the fans, thinking this added an element of unpredictability and therefore excitement back into the tournament.

"Now, allow me to introduce the contestants." The announcer continued. Suddenly a spotlight pointed at the door next to where the majority of the Furinkan supporters were seated. The light revealed two girls to the audience, easily recognized at Akane and Shampoo. Akane was being Shampoo's second in this and she was wearing a red long-sleeve shirt with blue pants. Shampoo was wearing her leaf green leotard, but to everyone's surprise her fox ears and tail were showing.

"What the hell?" Ranma and Nabiki said together, surprised Shampoo would let other people see her in her primary cursed form.

"Representing Furinkan High, the challenger Shampoo... no surname given, and assisting her, Akane Tendo."

The audience sure had their eyes on the Chinese girl as she walked to the stage, both her and Akane looking strangely calm.

"Wow, nice costume." One boy said.

"Yeah, you'd almost swear it was real."

"Must be one of those movie prop things they sometimes sell to people."

Ranma and Nabiki looked at each other. "They really think she's just wearing fake animal parts?" Ranma asked.

"Looks that way." Nabiki replied. "But why would she do this?"

"I think I get it now. When I sparred with her before her movements and balance always seem to be a bit sharper when she was like this. She must be using this form to give her a better chance at fighting Kodachi on even terms." Ranma theorized.

Shampoo climbed into the ring while akane stayed out. The announcer quickly approached her. "You sure you want to be wearing that?" Like the audience she assumed this was some sort of gimmicky costume.

"Too late change now." Shampoo answered.

"Alright, but do you have a surname to provide? It's not a good idea to not give that here."

Shampoo smirked. "Saotome. Shampoo Saotome."

Akane heard this and frowned. 'Dammit, how dare she call herself Saotome before I get the chance to? Now everyone's going to think she's closer to marrying him than I am.'

"Alright then." The announcer said before returning to the center of the ring. A spotlight went off and revealed Kodachi by another doorway. "Representing St. Hebereke, the undefeated Kodachi 'the Black Rose' Kuno, with no assistant it appears."

Rather than enter the same way Shampoo did, as if she required a more dramatic entrance, Kodachi actually descended from the ceiling on what looked like a swing, wearing a white dress that looked suspiciously like a wedding dress, complete with veil.

'What the hell is she thinking?' Akane asked herself.

Suddenly fireworks went off to compliment Kodachi's appearance. Shampoo had to cover her fox ears and ignore her animal instinct to run from the sudden commotion.

"Who the heck approved of fireworks indoors?" Akane yelled, but no one could hear her.

One of the fireworks turn a wrong turn and headed right for Shampoo like a missile; likely it was if Kodachi had anything to do with this display. Shampoo this time did respond to her instincts and got out of the way, running to the other side of the ring just as the firework missile exploded where she had been standing.

"However did that bomb get in there?" Kodachi nonchalantly asked when she finally landed in the center of the ring. "I do hope you're not wounded."

Akane went right up to the announcer. "There is no effing way that could be legal! Explosives before the match? Kodachi should be disqualified for trying to kill Shampoo!"

"I understand your concern, but there's no way to truly connect that to Kodachi." The announcer said.

"Bull! I know for a fact no one from Furinkan set up those fireworks or managed them. That means it had to be someone from this school, which means this school should forfeit the match for endangering the lives of the contestants and the audience. What if that bomb had missed the ring and hit the stands? You really think you wouldn't be forced to take responsibility then?"

The announcer looked nervous and sweated a bit, but remained adamant. "I'm sorry, but the match will continue. Please return to your station."

Akane glared with an amount of anger only Kuno or Ranma in her dream had seen before. "Fine, but now I'm completely certain you're in on this. If I see you refusing to call a fair game..." Akane held her fist out. "You will regret it." Akane got up and walked off, but not before sending Kodachi a look with murder in her eyes.

Kodachi just looked amused while holding a black rose in her mouth. Then she removed the dress all at once and threw it overhead, revealing her leotard. She then looked at Shampoo with a similar expression but this time she had a hint of smugness to it, like she could taste victory instead of her rose.

Shampoo just growled like a fox and resumed her original location, grateful the ring or mat didn't take much damage. But she was still wary in case there was hidden structural damage.

"You make a fool of yourself dressed in such an outfit." Kodachi calmly taunted. "Trying to give yourself some appeal to the audience by appealing to their otaku sides? Or are you one of those people with animal costume fetishes I've heard about?"

Shampoo smirked instead of looked bothered, for she was no stranger to pre-battle trashtalk. In a village where women were expected to fight such a thing was practically mandatory. "You just jealous because Shampoo already have man. You so lonely you dress in fake wedding dress to feel wanted. Shampoo already have man, no need pretend be bride like you."

Kodachi frowned a bit. 'The real reason I wore this was to make her look boring and pale compared to me, the more elegant and lovely of the two. Her costume slightly negates that and if she has a man in her life she won't feel insecure regarding her love life now. My only hope to gain the self-esteem advantage here now is to prove how inferior her skills are compared to mine. But that has to be saved for the battle itself.'

"Contestants, to the center of the ring." The announcer stated, forcing the two girls to come closer together. "Shake hands."

A gleam in her eyes, Kodachi extended her hand. Remembering the last time this happened, Shampoo looked at the hand before reaching for it. Knowing the professional courtesy prevented her from refusing without losing face with the audience, Shampoo was aware she could only delay so long, but at least she saw no tacks. As she extended her own hand, a scent caught her nose.

"What this?" Shampoo asked then grabbed Kodachi's wrist, bringing her hand closer to her face so she could sniff it.

"Hey what are you doing?" Kodachi asked, trying to take her hand back.

Shampoo held it to the announcer. "Smell hand, there something on it. No perfume or lotion neither."

Unable to refuse, the announcer sniffed Kodachi's palm. "Indeed, there is something on your hand."

Kodachi now managed to retrieve her hand. "Just some balm I used to relieve dry skin. I didn't want my grip to be compromised."

Shampoo made another grab and made a tug at her wrist, revealing Kodachi was wearing a thin plastic glove that hadn't been visible before. "Then why wear glove? Balm meant to be on skin, not plastic."

"Is there a reason for the glove?" The announcer asked Kodachi.

"I don't know how that got there." Kodachi weakly claimed.

"You not know how glove got on own hand?" Shampoo asked with much disbelief.

"Okay, that's it." Akane said before marching back to the announcer and taking the microphone from her, much to the announcer's protest. "Everyone Kodachi Kuno here has been cheating." Kodachi made an effort to silence Akane but the Tendo stepped away while Shampoo stood before Kodachi to block her. "She ambushed and brutally beat up the gymnast team from Furinkan, she assaulted me in my own home with intent to keep me from providing any help, she tried to injury Shampoo and even poison her with some kind of gas hidden in a bouquet. Now she tries using explosives and getting a chemical of some sort on Shampoo's hand, a chemical that Kodachi clearly does not want touching her own skin. Judges how can you permit this match to continue with all this going on?"

One of the judges stood up and grabbed their own microphone. "Do you have any proof of these claims?"

"Yes." Akane said with a nod. "Ask the disqualified members of Furinkan's team exactly why they were unable to participate. Check into who set up those fireworks in the first place. And even get someone to analyze the substance on Kodachi's glove. And if that's still not enough, get a chemist to look at a bouquet given to Shampoo from Kodachi that is currently in the changing room trashcan. I'm sure you'll see that all the evidence can be linked to Kodachi."

"Even so-"

"Unless you and the others have a _reason_ for ignoring what I'm saying." Akane interjected. "I'd hate to think you all were bribed into giving Kodachi extra leeway in this."

That got the result she wanted. Now the judges couldn't refuse a look into the evidence without incriminating themselves. And with the audience now discussing the claims and possible implications, the reputation of St. Hebereke would be tarnished forever as a school of cheaters.

'With Kuno's spending habit and Kodachi's refusal to acknowledge defeat I wouldn't be the least bit surprised that bribes took place here.' Akane thought, enjoying watching Kodachi sweat right then.

The judges were forced to talk among themselves, then the one seated in the center stood up and spoke into the microphone. "Everyone, the match will be put on hold for an hour. Upon which the results of our findings will be revealed and will determine the eligibility for this match to continue."

The audience groaned, not wanting to wait, but saw they had no choice. Nabiki was a bit upset too. 'This could jeopardize my entire betting pool today. Damn, another time I can't make money off a fight. Akane, you better make this up to me with a guaranteed win next time.'

* * *

That night Shampoo in human form was working in the Kitsunehanten with a smile on her face.

"So how did the match go?" Cologne asked.

"Strange but not bad." Shampoo answered. "Like Akane predict, enemy girl try many bad trick to get Shampoo out of fight before fight start. Too many trick, got caught. Akane point out and force judges to do something about it."

"So what did they did?"

Shampoo kept her grin as she put away the unused ingredients, but a gleam was in her eyes. "People who run tests found sleeping gas, too too much gunpowder in fireworks made by enemy school engineers, and balm that affect nerves in Shampoo hand if got on skin. Shampoo barely able to hold weapon if touch."

"And the Kuno girl honestly thought she could get away with this?" Cologne asked.

Shampoo nodded. "If Akane no make case she might have. Akane force judge to act, judge no try act before. People accuse judge of taking bribes from rose girl. To save face judge vote rose girl disqualified. Victory go to Shampoo."

"Victory by disqualification." Cologne said to herself. "Not the most honorable victory there is but considering the opponent quite possibly the most humiliating. Someone who so apparently relishes in victory by disqualification should experience defeat by disqualification as well."

Shampoo nodded.

The bell rang, indicating someone had walked in. The restaurant wasn't closed yet but close too, and there were no more customers left so they could manage one more if they didn't stay long.

Shampoo walked to the entry room. "Welcome to-" She halted when she saw who it was. "You?"

"No one makes a fool of Kodachi Kuno like that. No one. Especially not some costumed bimbo." Kodachi said with venom in her voice and several weapons in her hands. It was very clear what she was here for, to finish what she had started.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Shampoo was no stranger to unexpected fights. First thing they teach you in Joketsuzoku is you can't always predict when the next fight will be. Like it or not sometimes you will be caught off guard, and sometimes the enemy won't give you the luxury of postponing the battle for a more opportune time.

Right now Kodachi looked like the living embodiment of this philosophy.

Even so, Shampoo had to make one effort to save her grandmother's restaurant. "You want fight? We go outside. Or you want pay for damage to restaurant?"

"Fine, be ready for the worst beating of your life." Kodachi said before exiting the restaurant.

Shampoo took a bit longer to come out than Kodachi had preferred, but before she could barge in again Shampoo jumped out of the second floor and landed on her feet on the road holding her chui. "What took you so long?"

"You no expect Shampoo to fight before get weapons right?"

"At least you're not wearing that horrendous fox girl outfit. You truly have no taste you Chinese hussy." Kodachi insulted.

Angered, Shampoo decided to mess with her and shifted into her primary cursed form, the fox girl. "Name is Shampoo. Remember when Shampoo send you crying home like little bitch."

"No one's ever beaten me before and you're sure as hell not going to be the first." Kodachi declared as she went for the kill right away, figuratively speaking of course.

Shampoo dodged to her right and ducked down before jumped at the gymnast, allowing her to headbutt Kodachi in the abs. The ponytailed girl had the wind knocked out of her but luckily she did have some training in enduring hits.

"That was a cheap shot." Kodachi winced.

"This come from girl who use tacks in fingers and chemical on glove and bombs in flowers and-?"

"Enough!" Kodachi shrieked, not liking her words used against her. Fury in her eyes she held her left arm up above her and began to spin her ribbon around in front of her, with some black rose petals filling the air.

'This decoy tactic, meant to distract Shampoo from real move.' Shampoo thought, her senses on full alert. Unfortunately her fox-strength nose was filled with the scent of roses and that was distracting her just as much.

A chain was thrown at her by Kodachi's right hand, and Shampoo jumped above it, just narrowing avoiding the self-locking manacle at the end. When she landed she grabbed the chain and pulled it, making Kodachi briefly lose her balance before she let go of the chain on her end. Shampoo saw at the other end there was something she could only assume was an explosive.

"Even now you still need stupid trick to win. You pathetic child pretending to be champion." Shampoo taunted.

Even more infuriated, Kodachi was twirling a weighted rope, the kind you throw at someone's legs in order to bind them and make them trip and not be able to get back up. "You dare call me pathetic? I am Kodachi the Black Rose! I AM a champion!"

"Then prove it. If you really have honor, fight like real warrior and not coward. We have saying back home, coward always have biggest sword. You coward in Shampoo eyes."

Cologne once taught Shampoo that cowards only got involved in fights when they felt safe or certain that they could guarantee victory with minimal damage to themselves. True bravery to the Joketsuzoku was shown fighting someone even when you had a disadvantage, but a coward was someone who said 'advantage or not fighting at all'. Having the biggest sword was basically announcing that all your courage came from the sword, and without it you knew you couldn't win.

"I'll show you coward." Kodachi said before snapping her rope, making it tighten like a rod. Running up to Shampoo, the purple-haired girl blocked with her chui, testing the feel of the weapon.

'It feel like rod. Weapon must be pliable or just look like rope when spinning.' Shampoo said before high-kicking the weapon away, successful but her foot stung.

Undaunted, Kodachi switched to a club in both hands. She thrust one at Shampoo's face but the Amazon blocked it with a pincer move wit her chui. At close proximity spikes came out of the club, one spike poking her nose but not drawing blood. Shampoo briefly released her grip and Kodachi withdrew the club, the spikes retracting.

"You blocked that well." Kodachi said.

"That strange weapon, but so far only one you show that Shampoo no find fault with." Shampoo replied. In truth that club did have a good tactical advantage for real battles, but for showcase spars it might be going a bit too far.

"You'll find I have the best weapons in my sport." Kodachi claimed. "I didn't get to be the best by having what everyone else has after all."

"True, but if you have honor you know want win by cheat, but by merit." Shampoo stated, trying to get another hit in. Kodachi bent backwards and caught herself with her hands before flipping back to her feet.

Close to her supply bag Kodachi pulled out a red hoop and spun it around her wrist above her head. When she got enough momentum behind it she threw the hoop which Shampoo dodged. She saw the hoop cut thru a wooden pole behind her, as if the hoop was actually an ax. After it cut thru it angled up.

'Razor hoop, she must like deadly weapon when force to fight.' Shampoo thought. "These weapon you would use in match today?"

"Yes. I intended to defeat you impudent woman and I'm still doing that. In the same way I intended to defeat you before. The only thing different right now is the setting, not the style."

"Then we see what style be stronger, your style or Shampoo style." The Chinese girl announced.

"The outcome of that is obvious." The ponytailed girl said when the ring returned to her. Somehow she was able to catch it without getting cut.

"Shampoo agree."

* * *

Back inside the cafe Cologne was watching the fight and was thinking back about last night.

-Flashback-

Cologne was getting ready to take a bath, but before she disrobed the phone rang. "Who could that be?" She asked herself before answering. "Hello? Fox Cafe. If you're calling for a delivery I'm afraid we're closed for the night."

"Oh I'm quite fed Elder Cologne. I'm calling in regards to other business."

Cologne gasped. "O-Oracle-sama! What a surprise this is."

"Sadly this is not just a friendly chat Elder. I'm calling to ask if you got the package I sent you." The Oracle, a highly respected honorary member of Joketsuzoku, requested.

"Yes I did, the one with the mushrooms, as well as details of how to use the contents. What I don't understand is why I need these."

"I believe you'll find them quite useful tomorrow night." The Oracle replied, but before Cologne could ask for clarification the Oracle hung up.

-Flashback End-

"So I have to use this mushroom on this crazy girl." Cologne said as she watched the fight, then went to go get the item in question.

* * *

Back outside the back raged on. Kodachi attacked and blocked with her whip-like ribbon and her razor hoop. Shampoo attacked and blocked with her chui and her natural dexterity. All the while neither appeared to be taking any direct hits anymore.

'She tough, but Shampoo face tougher.' The Amazon thought before jumping backwards and taking an almost meditative stance for a moment, her eyes closed and her arms spread out with weapons still held.

Kodachi paused out of confusion more than anything else. "What are you doing?"

Shampoo didn't answer. She opened her eyes and spun her chui in her hands like batons. Then she threw them one at a time, the blunt ends flying at Kodachi first. The gymnast tried to block them with her ribbon, but her weapon got tangled by the first chui and was too slow to stop the second one, which hit her in the center of her breasts.

The impact knocked the wind out of Kodachi and made her lose her balance, and before she could regain it Shampoo herself darted forward, grabbed the chui and swung it around herself before hitting Kodachi with it again, this time making her go flying up.

Kodachi crashed on the roof, cracking some tiles but not creating a hole. Shampoo jumped to get on the roof. "Give up or want more?"

Kodachi got up on all fours, looking bruised, dirty, and furious. "I will not lose... to an amateur!"

"Shampoo no amateur. Best warrior back home."

"The strongest insect is still just an insect." Kodachi claimed as she got to her feet, gripping her ribbon tightly enough that her knuckles turned white.

Shampoo gave her a patient look, but on the inside she was offended. "You no can handle real fight without cheating, and you still have nerve to say you too too strong to lose? You weak, you know you weak, you just refuse admit it."

Kodachi gritted her teeth at the accusation, which sadly wasn't completely untrue. The Kuno's had a sort of shared mentality regarding their battle skills, in which they overestimated their own might and believe with all their hearts that the only way someone could trump them was by unfair or unethical manners. Meaning the only possible way a Kuno could lose in anything was if the opponent had cheated. Because of this shared belief, the Kuno's tended to assume that all of their opponents were trying to cheat to begin with. Tatewaki tried to prove he could still win despite such cheating, but Kodachi on the other hand felt that if the opponent was going to cheat she had every right to cheat too.

As a result, for every trick Kodachi showed in combat, she usually had two yet to be revealed. Here, she was ready to show one of them.

"You think this is weak?" The gymnast said, taking out one of her clubs and pointing it at the Amazon. All of a sudden the blunt end separated from the stick and shot off at Shampoo, like a rocket. It even sounded like one.

Shampoo used all her agility and flexibility, both natural and granted by her cursed form to jump over and around it and land on her feet. 'She put firework in weapon?' She asked herself, remembering Kodachi's use of pyrotechnics at the match earlier today. To her surprise Kodachi immediately pulled out a second club and did the same. Shampoo planted herself as flat as she could on the roof to avoid this one which zoomed overheard then burst behind her.

Seeing her rival down, Kodachi rushed in to attack her directly. Whipping her ribbon to strike, she took aim only for Shampoo to roll out of the way and use her momentum to get back on her feet. Shampoo rushed in and grabbed the ribbon handle before yanking it out of her hand and throwing it to the street.

"No more weapon. No more cheat. Where your honor? Fight like real martial artist." Shampoo challenged, putting up her fists in a challenging manner.

Kodachi got the message right away; Shampoo was now changing the terms of the fight to bare fists, the most honorable form of martial arts known. No gimmicks other than what your body can perform, no weapons other than your body itself, no traps set in place and no cheap shots. At the same time it used one of martial arts unspoken but universal rules. To refuse was to admit inferiority and/or a dependency on outside means, both which could be used against you later, and to break the terms was to admit that such a martial artist had no real honor and thus lost any decent reputation.

'I can't accept, all my training is in rhythmic gymnastics. I no longer know how to fight without weapons.' Kodachi thought. 'I just have to ensure no word of this fight reaches anyone once I win.'

"No deal." Kodachi said before rushing in. "Attack of a Thousand Clubs." She declared, using multiple clubs at once to try and overwhelm her opponent with hits. Shampoo took a few hits but endurance was one of the things she trained in so she knew how to take a hit.

When Kodachi stopped her attack Shampoo reached out and grabbed both her wrists. "Now!"

"Now what?" Kodachi asked, then felt a hit on her back and her body froze solid. 'She's got back-up. She did cheat!' Of course she was completely ignoring the fact she had fought dirty first and moreso. To a Kuno, the cheating others did was always worse than the cheating they did.

Cologne, who had hit Kodachi with a shiatsu move to create temporary immobility, moved to Kodachi's mouth. "Good, her mouth's open." She opened a box and pulled out a tiny mushroom. Tiny enough she had to be careful not to crush it between her fingers. "This is for your own good." she said before throwing it in Kodachi's mouth. Thanks to its small size, she didn't even have to swallow it nor did it trigger any gag reflex.

The body-freeze wore off and Kodachi held her stomach. "What did you-?" She suddenly felt very strange, almost lighter in fact. Her leotard actually began to feel looser and the two Amazons appeared to get taller right before her eyes. "What's happening to me?" She asked as they more than doubled in size. She tried to turn but suddenly her balance shifted and she collapsed on her stomach. The first thing she noticed was that her chest felt different in the impact. Using a hand she felt for her bosom, only to see it was no longer there. 'My breasts? They're gone? But how?'

A green sheet was thrown over her head from behind, or so she thought. It was too big for her to throw off herself, so she crawled out into the open air. The first thing she saw were her hands, which looked smaller and pudgier now. "Wa haba ii?" She said, though she was trying to say 'What happened to me?'

"Impressive, about twenty seconds to take effect, give or take." Cologne said. "I had to admit even with Oracle-sama's word I was a bit skeptical of these mushroom's effects, but apparently they really work."

"Crazy Girl now baby?" Shampoo asked.

'Baby?' Kodachi asked, trying to check over herself, except her body didn't move like it used to. She could see her legs and they were as chubby as her arms were. She made an attempt to stand up, but she had a hard enough time just trying to sit up now.

Cologne wrapped up the now-infant girl in her leotard. "Well, we better watch over the child until Oracle-sama gives us further instructions. We can't just give her back to her family after all. If they did somehow believe us they'd press charges we don't want on us."

The pair dropped down, but on the ground there was someone waiting for them. "Hello." They said with a smile.

"Who are you?" Cologne person before her showed no signs of hostility, but she had no idea of knowing how long they had been there or what they came for. This person was a woman with brown hair, dress in a blue jacket over a white blouse and blue pants.

"Calm down Elder, I'm here on behalf of Oracle-sama. I'm her apprentice."

"Oracle-sama's apprentice?" Cologne repeated. "I was unaware she had one."

"Unlike elders, oracles make it a point to keep that a secret. We learn more that way. The only reason I revealed myself is because you're going to be seeing a lot more of me. So with that, I'll tell you my name. Ukyo Kuonji."

The name struck both Amazons as somewhat familiar, but neither could recall why.

"Anyway, as you already know, Oracle-sama knew this fight was going to happen and sent you the age mushrooms to end it the way she considered most proper ahead of time. It shouldn't surprise you she'd have something in mind for after you used them." Ukyo added.

Cologne nodded. "True. So what were you sent here for?"

"I've got some baby supplies to make that girl more comfortable." She said pointing to a squirming Kodachi, who was still in denial about her current form. "After that, I'm supposed to take her directly to my master. From there, you won't have to worry anymore."

"Alright, that works for me." Cologne replied.

"Oh, and return the mushrooms. You won't need them anymore and we don't want to risk someone else swallowing one." Ukyo added.

"Very well."

The whole process took a few moments. Cologne handed Kodachi to Ukyo who put the infant into a diaper then put her in a sling while the elder retrieved a box of tiny mushrooms. There weren't that many left, just enough to get Kodachi in case the first or second attempt failed.

"How soon until the Oracle herself appears? I'm sure that she'll want to see Son-in-law at some point since she's foreseen much about him." Cologne asked, giving over the box.

"Oh she does. Believe me she does want to see him." Ukyo said. "But for now Ranchan needs more time without her involvement. Fortunately, my chance to get involved is coming quickly."

"Ranchan?" Shampoo repeated, then caught the significance. "You the third bride?"

Ukyo smiled. "Technically first, since I did meet him before you and the one. But yeah, I'm one of the three. Nice to meet you by the way." She finished with a bow, which Shampoo politely returned.

"I assume you don't want us to tell him about you?" Cologne asked.

"I'll leave that up to you. In the big scheme of things it doesn't really matter if he knows about me tomorrow or not. If you do tell him, let him know I'll be by shortly and will give him something he'll never forget."

Without another word, Ukyo left the area, taking the de-aged Kuno girl with her.


End file.
